Key benchmark indices continue to trade marginally in red

Key benchmark indices continued to trade marginally in red in afternoon session, as investors adopted a cautious approach in view of August derivatives expiry. The sentiments remained on pessimistic mood with Credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service report highlighting that there are risks of India breaching the 3.3% fiscal deficit target for the current financial year as higher oil prices will add to short-term fiscal pressures. The rupee hitting a new record low against the dollar and subdued trend in Asian markets too weighed on the sentiments. However, losses were limited as some optimism remained among the traders with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is expected to surpass Britain next year to become the world’s fifth largest economy. Meanwhile, broader indices were acting contrary to the trend, with gains in the range of 0.40%-0.60%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38704.47, down by 18.46 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 38624.23 and 38819.06. 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 0.57%, while Small cap index up by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.30%, Basic Materials up by 1.03%, Utilities up by 0.93%, Healthcare up by 0.92% and FMCG up by 0.69% while, Energy down by 0.42%, Bankex down by 0.42% and Realty down by 0.00% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.37%, Sun Pharma up by 1.69%, ONGC up by 1.35%, ITC up by 1.28% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.52%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.29%, Yes Bank down by 1.20%, Reliance Industries down by 0.91% and Asian Paints down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s (DIPP) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek has expressed confidence that India may further improve its ranking in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ index this year, on the back of reforms initiated by the government. The World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ report is slated to be released in October.

Abhishek has highlighted that last year, India had jumped 30 places to rank 100th in World Bank's 'ease of doing business' ranking among 190 countries, on the back of slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution. Besides, he said that several areas, including starting a business and paying taxes, have seen an improvement.

The secretary further said that this is a good time for investments in India. He also expects that Indian economy is likely to touch $5 trillion mark by 2025 and $10 trillion by 2030. He said that they are removing all the bottlenecks and obstacles in areas like logistics and infrastructure, and the department would be setting up a Taiwan Plus cell to hand hold investors in India. He noted that India has attracted $230 billion FDI in the last four years and ‘Invest India’ campaign is facilitating foreign investments worth $90 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11681.65, down by 10.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 11656.80 and 11698.80. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.47%, GAIL India up by 2.42%, UPL up by 2.21%, Sun Pharma up by 1.71% and ONGC up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.40%, Indusind Bank down by 1.37%, Eicher Motors down by 1.20%, HPCL down by 1.18% and Yes Bank down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Straits Times decreased 15.14 points or 0.47% to 3,228.78, Taiwan Weighted was down by 5.82 points or 0.05% to 11,093.75, KOSPI decreased 1.68 points or 0.07% to 2,307.35, Jakarta Composite shed 18.58 points or 0.31% to 6,046.57, Hang Seng dropped 239.47 points or 0.85% to 28,176.97 and Shanghai Composite dipped 31.48 points or 1.15% to 2,737.81.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 21.28 points or 0.09% to 22,869.50.