Key equity indices trade flat in early noon session

Key equity indices were trading flat in early noon session as investors remain concerned with a private report stating that rising inflation and high crude oil prices will weigh on the minds of the six Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members at their three-day meeting beginning on June 4 to decide the key policy rate. Traders were also wary with former finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement that Indian economy has become like a car whose three tyres are punctured. Sentiments on the street were a little pessimistic with a report stating that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 29,714 crore from the capital markets in May, making it the biggest outflow in 18 months, owing to heavy increase in global crude prices. However, traders took some solace with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) praising India’s economic growth, which was recorded at 7.7% for Q4 (January-March) of fiscal year 2017-18, the fastest in seven quarters. It also noted that India’s growth scenario is set to improve further going ahead.

On the global front, most of the Asian Markets were trading in green on Monday after US jobs data bolstered optimism in the world’s largest economy, outweighing global trade tensions. Back on the domestic front, aviation stocks remained in focus as Airport Authority of India’s report showed that passenger traffic at Indian airports in April registered a growth of 21.7% over the corresponding month last year. The report also said that domestic traffic grew by 25 percent and international traffic by 10.2 percent in April, with the overall passenger movement being recorded at 28.22 million. Besides, Oil & Gas stocks were among the top gaining sectoral indices owing to a private report stating that petrol prices were cut for the sixth consecutive day across Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. The private report highlighted that in the last six days, petrol prices have been cut by 47 paise per litre in Delhi and Mumbai, 46 paise per litre in Kolkata and 49 paise per litre in Chennai.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35238.83, up by 11.57 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 35089.66 and 35555.59. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index moved up by 0.02%, while Small cap index down by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.61%, Healthcare up by 0.59%, Oil & Gas up by 0.28%, Auto up by 0.25% and TECK up by 0.25%, while Realty down by 1.41%, Consumer Durables down by 0.98%, Power down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.46% and FMCG down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 4.07%, Yes Bank up by 1.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.75%, Tata Motors up by 1.34% and Sun Pharma up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.57%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23%, HDFC Bank down by 1.12%, Adani Ports down by 1.10% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s largest apex body of business organisation, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has praised the country’s economic growth, which was recorded at 7.7% for Q4 (January-March) of fiscal year 2017-18, the fastest in seven quarters. It noted that India’s growth scenario is set to improve further going ahead as the March quarter growth clearly shows that the Indian economy is on an uptrend.

The industry body has further stated that the GDP growth data released presents an optimistic picture of the economy, reflected in y-o-y growth for Q4, especially for construction and manufacturing sectors. It also expressed hopes that the government will continue investing in infrastructure to accelerate the pace of growth even further.

According to FICCI, Indian economy will grow at 7.5 percent in the current fiscal. However, it warned that one will have to be watchful about the movement in the oil prices in the global market as well as the pace at which the health of the domestic banking sector improves.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10692.60, down by 3.60 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 10648.20 and 10770.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 4.02%, Yes Bank up by 1.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%, Tata Motors up by 1.36% and Lupin up by 1.33%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 2.23%, Asian Paints down by 1.60%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.60%, Adani Ports down by 1.24% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian stocks were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 6.8 points or 0.28% to 2,445.76, Shanghai Composite soared 17.89 points or 0.58% to 3,093.03, Jakarta Composite surged 46.62 points or 0.78% to 6,030.20, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 160.42 points or 1.47% to 11,109.50, Nikkei 225 moved up by 320.17 points or 1.44% to 22,491.52 and Hang Seng was up 447.54 points or 1.47% to 30,940.45.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 0.16 points or 0.01% to 1,756.22