Markets trade slightly in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks made positive start and are trading slightly in green in early deals as traders took some support with report that India’s industrial production grew 4.9 percent in April, as compared with 4.4 percent jump in March. The factory output index growth rate moderated in March after consistently being above 7 percent between November and February. It expanded 6 percent a year ago. However, gains remained capped with report that that India’s retail inflation hit a four-month high after jumping to 4.87 percent in May from April’s 4.58 percent driven by costlier food and fuel. Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI), had fallen to 2.18 percent in May 2017. Meanwhile, markets regulator Sebi proposed to allow direct listing of Indian companies on overseas bourses and of foreign firms on Indian exchanges, while setting up an expert panel to look into the details. Currently, Indian companies can list their shares through depository receipts abroad, while foreign companies need to go through the Indian Depository Receipt route for listing of equities.

On the global front, most of the Asian counters are trading in red at this point of time as investors shifted their focus from the recently concluded U.S.-North Korea summit to the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting later in the day. The US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un sign an agreement aimed at establishing a peace regime on the Korean peninsula.

Back home, telecom stocks edged lower as traders booked profit after yesterday’s rise after Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said that the new telecom policy is expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet by the end of next month. In scrip specific development, BHEL soared on bagging two orders worth over Rs 125 crore and  Arvind moves up on its arm planning to expand services to new geographical areas.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35748.87, up by 56.35 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 35743.64 and 35877.41. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.53%, IT up by 1.30%, Consumer Durables up by 1.29%, TECK up by 0.89% and Auto was up by 0.46%, while Telecom down by 1.30%, Oil & Gas down by 0.38%, Energy down by 0.32%, Metal down by 0.31% and Realty was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.84%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.41%, TCS up by 2.24%, Axis Bank up by 2.07% and SBI up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.55%, Tata Steel down by 0.97%, HDFC down by 0.89%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.72% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with rising bad loans, bank frauds, cash crunch and other issues, Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel has said the Reserve Bank needs more powers to oversee public sector banks (PSBs). There are 21 state-owned banks, including State Bank of India.  In the last financial year, their combined losses crossed a whopping Rs 87,300 crore, topped by scam-tainted Punjab National Bank which took a hit of nearly Rs 12,283 crore.

Of the 21 state-owned banks, only two banks, Indian Bank and Vijaya Bank, posted profits during FY18. Indian Bank posted the highest profit of Rs 1,258.99 crore and Vijaya Bank's profit was Rs 727.02 crore in the fiscal.

The governor said that the RBI has 'inadequate' control over PSBs. However, he stated that the situation on the NPA front has been improving after implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Besides, he added that steps were being taken to strengthen the banking system. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) of the entire banking sector stood at Rs 8.31 lakh crore at end-December 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10852.10, up by 9.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 10851.05 and 10888.90. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.78%, Lupin up by 2.38%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.34%, Cipla up by 2.26% and TCS up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.50%, Indiabulls Housing down by 1.21%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.12%, Tata Steel down by 1.07% and HDFC down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 192.46 points or 0.62% to 30,910.60, Shanghai Composite declined 23.11 points or 0.75% to 3,056.69, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 5.08 points or 0.29% to 1,759.08 and KOSPI Index was down by 1.32 points or 0.05% to 2,468.83.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted increased 20.19 points or 0.18% to 11,164.98 and Nikkei 225 was up by 99.92 points or 0.44% to 22,978.27.