Benchmarks trade marginally in green ahead of WPI data

Indian equity benchmarks are trading slightly in green in early deals on Wednesday, as traders took some support with report that India’s Retail inflation, measured by the consumer price index (CPI), eased to 5.07% in January 2018, after rising to 5.21% in the month of December. Some support also came with private report that Inflation is peaking off and the Reserve Bank of India is expected to cut rates by 25 bps in August if monsoon is normal. Investors also drew some comfort from Union minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country’s economic growth is likely to cross 7.5% in the next fiscal. However, gains remained capped with traders remaining watchful ahead of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to be released later in the day. Besides, gains also remained capped with a report highlighting that India’s index of industrial production (IIP) growth for the month of December 2017 slowed down to 7.1% as compared to 8.4% in last month.

On the global front, Asian markets are exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time despite the slightly firmer lead from Wall Street, which recorded a third consecutive day of gains in the last session. The U.S. markets edged higher on Tuesday, as traders looked ahead to the release of reports on consumer prices and retail sales on February 14.

Back home, banking shares mainly public sector undertaking (PSU) banks trading weak after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday after market hours came out with a new non-performing assets (NPA) resolution. In the RBI’s new rules, banks would have to harmonise the treatment of specific accounts across their books. If one bank has treated a particular account as an NPA, other lenders on the same account will have to treat it as an NPA in their books as well. In scrip specific developments, IRB Infra advanced with arm achieving financial closure for Kishangarh - Gulabpura project, while Vakrangee touched the roof on launching Travel, Visa assistance services in Mumbai.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34310.22, up by 9.75 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 34264.83 and 34473.43. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped 0.59%, while Small cap index was up by 0.75%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.31%, Telecom up by 1.18%, Consumer Durables up by 0.96%, TECK up by 0.77% and IT was up by 0.77%, while Bankex down by 0.61%, PSU down by 0.57%, Power down by 0.42%, Utilities down by 0.13% and Auto down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.54%, Wipro up by 1.55%, Reliance Industries up by 1.03%, Infosys up by 0.95% and Adani Ports up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.39%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.74%, SBI down by 1.61%, Axis Bank down by 1.56% and Asian Paints down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after hitting a 17-month high of 5.21% in the month of December 2017, India’s retail inflation cooled down to 5.07% in January 2018, due to easing prices of vegetables, fruits and fuel components. The consumer price index (CPI) number for January was in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) revised inflation projection of 5.1% for the quarter ended March, up from its previous forecast of 4.3-4.7%. The CPI inflation stood at 3.17% in January 2017. Besides, consumer food price inflation, a metric to gauge changes in monthly kitchen costs, was at 4.7% in January 2018, against 4.96% in December, and 0.61% in January 2017.

As per the data of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Rural, Urban, Combined) on Base 2012=100 for January 2018, stood at 5.21%, 4.93% and 5.07% respectively, compared to 3.36%, 2.90% and 3.17% respectively in January 2017. The index value of CPI for combined stood at 136.9. The data also showed that Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for all India Rural and Urban for January 2018 stood at 5.05% and 4.06%, respectively, compared to 1.14% and (-) 0.31%, respectively in January 2017. The index value of CFPI for combined stood at 138.1 for the month of January.

Inflation in the vegetable segment slowed to 26.97% in January as against 29.13% in December, while prices of pulses and products continued to fall (-) 20.19%, as compared with (-) 23.47% in December. Prices of fruits too rose at a slower pace of 6.24% in January, as against 6.63% recorded in the preceding month. Prices of Egg and Milk & products came at 8.70% and 4.21% respectively, in January 2018, as against 9.48% and 4.37% respectively in the December 2017. Besides, for the fuel and light segment, inflation was 7.73% last month compared to 7.90% in December. Housing inflation grew at 8.33% in January, as compared with 8.25% in December.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10546.55, up by 6.80 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 10527.95 and 10590.55. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.47%, HCL Tech up by 2.01%, Indiabulls Housing up by 1.73%, Vedanta up by 1.55% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.62%, Sun Pharma down by 2.54%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.91%, Axis Bank down by 1.85% and SBI down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 1 point or 0.05% to 1,834.02, KOSPI Index increased 15.54 points or 0.65% to 2,410.73 and Hang Seng up by 229.03 points or 0.77% to 30,068.56.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 declined 279.18 points or 1.31% to 20,965.50, Shanghai Composite shed 9.64 points or 0.3% to 3,175.32 and Jakarta Composite down by 4.1 points or 0.06% to 6,574.07.