Markets off day’s high in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed most of their gains in late afternoon session to come off day’s high points, tracking other weak Asian markets. Selling in Capital Goods, Telecom and FMCG stocks along with sluggish industry majors such as SBI, Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro weighed on the sentiments. Some concerns also came after Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said that he made it quite clear to the government that demonetisation was ‘not a good idea’ and that its implementation was not well-planned since 87.5% of the currency was being demonetised. The street took note of a report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightened reporting norms for the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) under which an individual can transfer up to $2,50,000 abroad in a year. Besides, the market participants await corporate results for future direction.

However, the markets managed to keep their heads above water with positive macro-economic data. India’s industrial production measured by Index of Industrial Production (IIP) grew at a faster rate of 7.1% in the month of February 2018 as against a growth rate of 1.2% in the same month of 2017, while retail inflation softened to a five-month low of 4.28% in the month of March 2018, as against 4.44% in February 2018, mainly on account of easing food prices including vegetables.  

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors braced for earnings reports from US banks. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) jumped higher after the company received the Letter of Award (LOA) from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for three packages worth Rs 1,584 crore for the construction of Mumbai Metro for the North-South Metro-4 corridor which will run between Kasarwadavali in Thane and Wadala.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34151.55, up by 50.42 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 34127.74 and 34313.14. 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 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.26%, TECK up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.55%, Healthcare up by 0.44% and Utilities up by 0.43% while, Capital Goods down by 0.67%, Telecom down by 0.52%, FMCG down by 0.37%, Oil & Gas down by 0.37% and PSU down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.47%, TCS up by 2.27%, Wipro up by 1.99%, Infosys up by 1.48% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.45%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.24%, Axis Bank down by 1.08%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.92%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.79% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit growth of scheduled commercial banks has risen at 10.32 percent on year-on-year basis. According to the latest fortnight data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks' credit stood at Rs 86,50,714 crore as on March 30, 2018 as compared to Rs 78,41,466 crore as on March 31, 2017.

However, the data report showed that the growth in advances was slower than the growth reported in the previous fortnight ended March 16, 2018. In the previous fortnight, banks loan had witnessed a rise of 11.13 percent to Rs 83,77,444 crore from Rs 75,38,202 crore in the period ended March 17, 2017.

As per data, in line with credit growth, the deposits also jumped by 6.66 percent to Rs 1,14,74,989 crore as on March 30, 2018 from Rs 1,07,57,656 crore in the year-ago period. Earlier, in February 2018, non-food bank credit increased by 9.8 percent year-on-year basis as against an increase of 3.3 percent in February 2017, while credit to agriculture and allied activities increased by 9 percent in February 2018, same as in February 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10461.90, up by 3.25 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 10460.55 and 10519.90. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.46%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.18%, Wipro up by 1.85%, Hindalco up by 1.78% and TCS up by 1.72%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.14%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.91%, Axis Bank down by 1.90%, HPCL down by 1.70% and HCL Technologies down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 22.9 points or 0.07% to 30,808.38, Shanghai Composite decreased 21.11 points or 0.66% to 3,159.05, Jakarta Composite decreased 17.72 points or 0.28% to 6,293.08 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.28 points or 0.34% to 1,867.34. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 10.1 points or 0.09% to 10,965.39, KOSPI Index increased 12.36 points or 0.51% to 2,455.07 and Nikkei 225 increased 118.46 points or 0.55% to 21,778.74.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 11.84 points or 0.22% to 5,321.06 and Germany’s DAX increased 50.84 points or 0.41% to 12,465.85. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 7.01 points or 0.1% to 7,251.33.