Benchmarks trade flat with positive bias

Indian equity benchmarks traded flat with positive bias in morning session as investors await December quarter earnings. The rupee opened up against dollar on account of selling of American currency by banks and exporters. As per provisional data released by the stock exchanges, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 692.83 crore on Monday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 522.90 crore. Traders were taking some encouragement with the World Bank report projecting India’s growth rate to 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5% for the next two years. It said that with an ambitious government undertaking comprehensive reforms, India has enormous growth potential compared to other emerging economies. The 2018 Global Economics Prospect released by the World Bank also said that India, despite initial setbacks from demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST), is estimated to have grown at 6.7% in 2017. Investors were eyeing Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet whereby Prime Minister will interact with leading economists and sectoral experts to deliberate on economic policy roadmap for promoting growth and employment. The meeting, being organized by government think tank NITI Aayog, will be attended by a host of ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NITI Aayog functionaries and leading economists.

Meanwhile, select stocks in IT counter were buzzing as US authorities said that the Trump administration is not considering any proposal that would force H-1B visa holders to leave the country. The announcement by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) came days after reports emerged that the Trump administration was considering tightening H-1B visa rules that could lead to deportation of 7,50,000 Indians. Telecom stocks were buzzing after the Telecom Commission (TC) decided to relax spectrum holding caps, giving a boost to M&As and spectrum sale, as carriers try to sell assets, including airwaves, to repay debt. The commission has also extended the payments tenure for auctioned airwaves from 12 years to 16 years, and lowered the interest rate on penalties on outstanding dues of telcos from 14% to 12%.

Traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Power and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables and Bankex sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Punj Lloyd was trading firm after the company initiated arbitration against the Libyan government-owned Sirte Oil Co to recover dues of Rs 1,300 crore. The company said that the Libyan company had unilaterally expanded the scope of a five-year project that was signed only for laying gas pipelines between 2006 and 2011. TVS Motors Company inches up on hiking its stake in Codivision Solutions by 5.6 percentage points, taking its total ownership to 29.6%.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, amid oil prices touching three-year highs due to production cuts and a fall in inventories. China’s producer prices rose at their slowest pace in 13 months in December, as the government’s war against winter smog dented factory demand for raw materials in a sign the world’s second largest economy has started to slow. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 34,400 and 10,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1389:943, while 96 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34467.43, up by 24.24 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 34431.09 and 34565.63. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.25%, Power up by 0.67%, Oil & Gas up by 0.66%, Telecom up by 0.63% and Utilities up by 0.61%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.34% and Bankex down by 0.13% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.85%, Coal India up by 1.46%, ONGC up by 1.02%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.90% and ITC up by 0.61%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.10%, Tata Steel down by 0.56%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.51%, Yes Bank down by 0.37% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in the backdrop of latest estimates of national income by Central Statistics Office (CSO) which showed that India’s growth is expected to slow down to four-year low of 6.5 per cent this fiscal, government’s think tank NITI Aayog has organized a meeting to be attended by a host of ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, NITI Aayog functionaries and leading economists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with leading economists and the experts across sectors from all over the country at NITI Aayog meeting to deliberate on economic policy roadmap for promoting growth and employment.

The NITI Aayog’s deliberation titled ‘Economic Policy: The Road Ahead’ will focus on six broad themes: Macroeconomic Balances, Agriculture and Rural Development, Urban Development, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Employment, Manufacturing and Exports and Health and Education.

NITI further said that the emphasis is on sharing the views of the experts from all over the country on the road ahead for the economic policy to steer the nation towards a New India envisioned by the prime minister.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10638.40, up by 1.40 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 10627.90 and 10655.50. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 1.59%, Coal India up by 1.58%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.19%, HPCL up by 1.05% and ONGC up by 1.02%.

On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 1.05%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.95%, Asian Paints down by 0.93%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 0.93% and Ambuja Cement down by 0.81% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 89.05 points or 0.82% to 10,825.84, Nikkei 225 decreased 32.72 points or 0.14% to 23,817.27, KOSPI Index decreased 7.55 points or 0.3% to 2,502.68 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.05 points or 0.06% to 1,825.90.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite increased 7.48 points or 0.22% to 3,421.38, Jakarta Composite increased 14.68 points or 0.23% to 6,387.83 and Hang Seng increased 213.12 points or 0.69% to 31,224.53.