Bourses off day’s high

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed their gains in late afternoon session to come off their intraday high points, amid mixed cues from European markets. Losses led by major industry leaders like Maruti Suzuki and Vedanta, weighted on the domestic sentiments. Traders got cautious as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued ‘preliminary notices’ to 272 companies for alleged non-compliance with CSR provisions under the companies law. Adding some concerns, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned India against macro-financial risks which emerged from the government ownership of the public sector banks and suggested to the country that it should consider privatisation of these lenders. Besides, IMF said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will need to gradually tighten monetary policy further due to rising inflation, driven mainly by higher oil prices and a falling rupee. However, the key indices continued to trade in fine fettle, with buying at Energy, Consumer Durables and Telecom counters.

On the global front, European markets were trading mixed, on the back of disappointing microeconomic data. Germany’s exports remained flat amid trade wars and industrial production declined more-than-expected in June. Destatis reported that exports registered nil growth in June from May after rising 1.7%. Separately, France’s foreign trade gap widened in June, as imports grew faster than exports. The figures from the Customs Office showed that the trade deficit rose to EUR 6.25 billion in June from EUR 6.02 billion in the previous month. Asian markets were trading in red, as buying interest was subdued in most of the markets in the region. Back home, in scrip specific development, Genesys International Corporation gained after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Wipro to jointly tap the opportunity in the autonomous car sector.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37789.51, up by 123.71 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 37641.40 and 37897.05. There were 21 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.36%, Consumer Durables up by 1.12%, Telecom up by 0.57%, Oil & Gas up by 0.46% and Bankex up by 0.33%, while Healthcare down by 0.50%, Power down by 0.37%, Realty down by 0.32%, Auto down by 0.21% and Consumer Disc down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.18%, ONGC up by 1.80%, Tata Motors up by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.03% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.30%, Vedanta down by 1.12%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.67%, Infosys down by 0.38% and ITC down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid higher oil prices and a falling rupee, an international organization, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest report has said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will need to gradually tighten monetary policy further, in order to keep inflation in check.

IMF expects average inflation to rise to 5.2% in 2018/19 from a 17-year low of 3.6% in the previous fiscal year. The international organization also pointed factors like pick up in domestic demand and recent hike in procurement prices of major crops by the government, which had contributed to inflationary pressures.

The international organization further said that tightening of policy will help to build monetary credibility. Moreover, as per the report, global crude oil prices are expected to average $72 a barrel in 2018/19, up from its earlier forecast of $62.

Recently, RBI in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19, has hiked repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.50%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.25%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.75%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11416.85, up by 27.40 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 11379.30 and 11452.85. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 2.09%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.94%, ONGC up by 1.85%, Tata Motors up by 1.17% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 5.39%, HPCL down by 1.96%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.57%, Vedanta down by 1.30% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times decreased 20.12 points or 0.61% to 3,319.88, Nikkei 225 fell 18.43 points or 0.08% to 22,644.31, Shanghai Composite declined 34.26 points or 1.25% to 2,745.11 and Jakarta Composite was down by 4.12 points or 0.07% to 6,087.13. On the flip side, Hang Seng zoomed 110.26 points or 0.39% to 28,359.14, KOSPI increased 1.29 points or 0.06% to 2,301.45 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 91.81 points or 0.83% to 11,075.25.

European markets were trading mixed; France’s CAC decreased 2.55 points or 0.05% to 5,518.76 and Germany’s DAX was down by 9.48 points or 0.08% to 12,638.71. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 27.53 points or 0.36% to 7,746.01.