Benchmarks trade flat in early deals amid mixed global cues

After ending slightly in green in previous session, Indian equity markets have made a flat to positive start and are currently trading mixed in early deals on Tuesday as investors remain cautious ahead of June F&O expiry.  Sentiments were down- beat with a report that government debt rose 1.7% to over Rs 76.94 lakh crore in the January-March period of 2017-18 fiscal over the previous quarter. The debt was Rs 75.66 lakh crore as of December 2017.   Further,  a depreciating rupee, which slipped 30 paise to trade at 68.54 against the US dollar on Tuesday, made traders all the more nervous.  However, down side remained capped with report stating that the government is expecting a tremendous improvement in tax buoyancy from the goods and services tax (GST) and, ahead of its first anniversary, expect collections from the landmark levy to average more than Rs 1 lakh crore a month in this fiscal year.

On the global front, the US markets ended higher on Tuesday with modest gains as equity benchmarks attempted to recover some of the sharp losses from the previous session. Asian markets were mostly trading in red as trade-related headlines took center stage for investors.

Back home, traders were seen piling up position in IT, TECK, Telecom, Realty and Healthcare, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, PSU, Utilities, Power and Energy. The market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 755 shares on the gaining side against 1102 shares on the losing side, while 88 shares remain unchanged. Shares of all the components of Nifty PSU Bank index were trading in negative territory in the early deals. Shares of Union Bank of India and Syndicate Bank hit their respective 52-week lows while stocks of IDBI Bank, Andhra Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India traded near 52-week low levels. SBI, PNB, Canara Bank and Bank of Baroda were down over 1%.

In the scrip specific development, NDTV locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 39 on the BSE in early morning trade, after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has passed an order asking Vishvapradhan Commercial (VCPL) to make an open offer for the company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35530.29, up by 40.25 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 35477.32 and 35618.85. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.13%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.38%, TECK up by 1.19%, Telecom up by 0.46%, Realty up by 0.41% and Healthcare up by 0.24%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.44%, PSU down by 1.16%, Utilities down by 0.94%, Power down by 0.79% and Energy down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.81%, Infosys up by 1.19%, Wipro up by 0.74%, Sun Pharma up by 0.72% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.58%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.77%, Axis Bank down by 1.22%, ICICI Bank down by 0.94%, ONGC down by 0.79% and ITC down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing confidence over the robustness of the India’s economic growth, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that the economy will grow at the rate of at least 7.5% in the current fiscal (FY19) and added that the growth may even go as high as 7.8%, even though as most global rating agencies have kept the country’s growth forecast between 7.3-7.4%.

Kumar further said that since the economy clocked a growth rate of 7.7% in the last quarter of FY18, he doesn’t see it going below that in subsequent quarters. He noted that it should remain 7.7% or higher in the coming quarters. He added that since it was even lower in the first second and third quarters of the last fiscal -- as low as 5.7% in Q1 -- there will be a favorable base effect as well. He also said the economy had overcome the effects of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation, while acknowledging the two moves had led to some casualties.

On the oil prices, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman said that the domestic market has borne oil prices going from $40 to $77 per barrel, and still the growth was 7.7% in the last quarter. And now going forward, the world oil prices are going to soften. There is a declining trend in oil futures. Given that moderation, he said that future price of oil would come down. He added the oil price had not changed much in the domestic market anyway.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10757.55, down by 11.60 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 10752.35 and 10785.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 1.98%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.81%, TCS up by 1.56%, HCL Technologies up by 1.25% and Infosys up by 0.99%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.03%, HPCL down by 3.61%, IOC down by 3.21%, NTPC down by 2.19% and Axis Bank down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 61.34 points or 0.28% to 22,280.66, Hang Seng dropped 167.60 points or 0.58% to 28,713.80, Taiwan Weighted slipped 1.57 points or 0.01% to 10,740.60, KOSPI decreased 3.35 points or 0.14% to 2,347.57 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.93 points or 0.46% to 2,831.58.
On the flip side, Straits Times gained 5.66 points or 0.17% to 3,286.53 and Jakarta Composite was up by 26.65 points or 0.46% to 5,852.30.