Choppiness continues on Dalal Street

The Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade choppy in late morning session, on selling by domestic institutional investors amid weakness in Asian markets on trade war concerns. Sentiments also remained down-beat on report that domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 935.41 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares of Rs 1628.19 crore. However, losses remained capped as traders were taking some solace with report that Sebi is planning to increase the maximum investment by angel funds in venture capital undertakings to Rs 10 crore from the current Rs 5 crore. In this fast changing ecosystem, wherein angels are investing much higher amounts, such increase is needed to provide more opportunities to angel funds.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in red. global markets were shaken when US President Donald Trump moved to slap tariffs on Chinese goods, on top of import duties on steel and aluminium, prompting a defiant response from Beijing. Back on domestic turf, in scrip specific development, Syngene International gained on inking R&D agreement with GSK, a science-led global healthcare company. The multiyear agreement will focus on accelerating the discovery of new drug candidates using Syngene’s discovery services platforms.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32581.49, down by 15.05 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 32515.17 and 32659.80. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.36%, while Small cap index was down by 0.47%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.44%, Capital Goods up by 0.41%, Bankex up by 0.33% and FMCG was up by 0.17%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.68%, Utilities down by 1.18%, IT down by 0.98%, TECK down by 0.79% and PSU was down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.36%, ICICI Bank up by 1.16%, Yes Bank up by 0.99%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.96% and Coal India was up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.89%, Adani Ports down by 1.71%, Infosys down by 1.67%, Tata Motors down by 1.65% and Tata Motors - DVR was down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to provide a big push to early-stage startup ecosystem, markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to raise the maximum investment by an angel fund in any venture capital (VC) undertakings to Rs 10 crore from the current Rs 5 crore. It noted that in this fast changing ecosystem, wherein angels are investing much higher amounts, such increase is needed to provide more opportunities to angel funds. However, it said that the minimum investment amount for an angel fund will continue to be Rs 25 lakh.

Besides, SEBI plans to halve the minimum corpus size required for an angel fund to register with it to 5 crore. It is considering to raise the maximum period of accepting funds from an angel investor to 5 years from the present limit of 3 years. This will allow angel funds more time to identify opportunities and invest in VC firms. Further, in line with the Companies Act, the regulator is looking to amend SEBI (Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents) norms and SEBI (Banker to an Issue) regulations that will enable a registrar as well as banker to an issue to maintain records of books of accounts and documents for a minimum period of eight years after completion of the relevant transactions.

The markets regulator also plans to provide an option to listed companies for distribution of cash benefits -- dividend of equity and preference shares as well as interest and maturity proceeds on debt instruments -- through the depositories in addition to the present system of distribution either directly by them or through the registrar to an issue and share transfer agents. As of now, there is a restriction on listed companies availing services of depositories for distribution of cash benefits.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9980.90, down by 17.15 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 9958.55 and 10010.75. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 1.47%, ICICI Bank up by 1.38%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.15%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.08% and Yes Bank was up by 0.94%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 5.45%, HPCL down by 4.13%, Wipro down by 3.81%, BPCL down by 2.10% and Adani Ports was down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng slipped 163.15 points or 0.54% to 30,146.14, Shanghai Composite shed 52.6 points or 1.67% to 3,100.16, Jakarta Composite decreased 31.36 points or 0.5% to 6,179.34 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 7.79 points or 0.42% to 1,857.43. On the other flip, KOSPI Index surged 14.9 points or 0.62% to 2,431.66, Taiwan Weighted soared 16.72 points or 0.15% to 10,840.05 and Nikkei 225 was up by 101.51 points or 0.49% to 20,719.37.