Benchmarks trade flat in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks erased most of their gains and traded flat near neutral lines in morning session. The rupee edged lower against the dollar at the start of session as the US unit clawed back some ground globally. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 719.78 crore on March 7, as per provisional data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) net bought shares of Rs 409.34 crore. The sentiments were downbeat after IMF Chief Christine Lagarde warned that a trade war US President Donald Trump apparently intends to provoke with tariffs on steel and aluminium would snuff out global growth. The head added that if international trade is called into question by these types of measures, it will be a transmission channel for a drop in growth, a drop in trade and it will be fearsome. Investors took note that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday night asked his party’s two central ministers to resign amid the growing strain in ties between his TDP and the BJP over alleged neglect of the state in the Union budget.

Meanwhile, the street shrugged off Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India’s economy bottomed out and is on the rise again. He also said that the country’s economy had witnessed slow growth because of decline in private investment and other factors. He added that this has all started changing and investment cycle has turned. Separately, India has made a pitch to ratings agency Fitch for a sovereign upgrade, pointing to structural reforms and sound macroeconomic indicators. A team of finance ministry officials led by economic affairs secretary Subhas Chandra Garg, chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian and principal economic advisor Sanjeev Sanyal made a pitch to Thomas Rookmaaker, director, sovereign ratings at Fitch on Wednesday.

Traders were seen buying in IT and TECK stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Basic Materials and PSU sectors stocks. In scrip specific development, Bhushan Steel was trading firm as Tata Steel has emerged as the highest bidder to acquire its assets. Tata Steel has received a formal communication from the Resolution Professional of Bhushan Steel (BSL) that it has been identified as the highest evaluated compliant resolution applicant to acquire controlling stake of BSL under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC), as decided in the meeting of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of BSL on March 6, 2018.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green. China’s exports unexpectedly surged at the fastest pace in three years in February, suggesting its economic growth remains resilient even as trade relations with the United States rapidly deteriorate. Back home, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading above the psychological 33,000 and 10,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 605:1712, while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33063.81, up by 30.72 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 33044.69 and 33309.36. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.79%, while Small cap index was down by 1.07%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.52% and TECK up by 0.48%, while Metal down by 1.10%, Basic Materials down by 1.09%, PSU down by 0.95%, Healthcare down by 0.92% and Realty down by 0.91% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.36%, ICICI Bank up by 1.20%, Infosys up by 0.88%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.74% and Wipro up by 0.44%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.08%, Sun Pharma down by 2.19%, Tata Motors down by 1.58%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.31% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, citing good third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers for the fiscal year 2017-18, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that India’s economy bottomed out and is on the rise again. He also said that the country’s economy had witnessed slow growth because of decline in private investment and other factors. He added that this has all started changing and investment cycle has turned.

Niti Aayog vice chairman highlighted that self-employment has generally been seen in the country as a residual category, and the self-employed youth, in the coming days, would be highly qualified and adept at latest technologies. He believes that the self-employed youth will be using Internet of things (IoT) to deliver to the society what the society needs at a rapidly changing pace.

On the employment front, Kumar said that it should get due attention and that job creation would contribute to GDP growth as well. In order to make good policy, he said that the Niti Aayog would like to generate payroll data based on inputs from employers on their plans vis-a-vis recruitment. He pointed out that the jobs created by new employers in the country like taxi companies and financial institutions should also be taken into consideration in employment data.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10149.05, down by 5.15 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 10148.60 and 10241.40. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 1.35%, ICICI Bank up by 1.03%, HCL Tech up by 0.99%, Infosys up by 0.85% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.77%.

On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.84%, Hindalco down by 2.87%, Sun Pharma down by 2.80%, BPCL down by 2.09% and Vedanta down by 1.99% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.27 points or 0.29% to 1,843.17, KOSPI Index increased 9.69 points or 0.4% to 2,411.51, Shanghai Composite increased 10.55 points or 0.32% to 3,282.22, Jakarta Composite increased 49.35 points or 0.77% to 6,417.62, Nikkei 225 increased 56.46 points or 0.27% to 21,309.18, Taiwan Weighted increased 80.4 points or 0.75% to 10,825.72 and Hang Seng increased 426.2 points or 1.41% to 30,623.12.