Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade choppy near their neutral lines in noon deals, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of macroeconomic data such as Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be announced after the market hours. Selling in realty, telecom and oil and gas sector were dragging the markets lower, while some buying in FMGC and technology pack helped the markets to keep their head above water. Traders remain concerned with private report that regulatory policies pose the biggest risks for companies over the next three years, followed by cyber security and technology disruptions. The report showed a divide on the viewpoint of risk management amongst Indian organisations.

Global cues too remained sluggish with most of the Asian counters are trading in red at this point of time. Back home, shares of all three listed state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) hit their respective 52-week low on the BSE on Wednesday in intra-day deals, after oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday as U.S. sanctions squeezed Iranian crude exports and after U.S. crude oil production in 2019 were forecast to grow at a slower rate than previously expected, prompting supply concerns. In scrip specific developments, TVS Motor gained up on launching 125cc scooter and A2Z Infra Engineering spurted on bagging order worth Rs 94.87 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37428.28, up by 15.15 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 37370.14 and 37638.16. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.75%, while Small cap index was down by 1.04%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.62%, IT up by 0.55% and TECK was up by 0.26%, while Realty down by 1.92%, Telecom down by 1.66%, Oil & Gas down by 1.21%, Auto down by 1.05% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.90% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.38%, ITC up by 2.30%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67%, Wipro up by 1.55% and Sun Pharma up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.53%, Axis Bank down by 2.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.00%, ICICI Bank down by 1.94% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to promote seamless movement of goods across the country and reduce high transaction cost of traders, the commerce ministry will soon seek Cabinet nod for its national logistics policy. The proposed policy will focus on increasing the warehousing capacity, and identify gaps that could be bridged to bring down the cost of logistics for traders. The ministry has already circulated a draft Cabinet note on the policy seeking views of different ministries and departments on the same. After getting the views, the department of commerce would finalise the note and seek Cabinet's approval.

High logistics cost impacts competitiveness of domestic goods in the international markets. The commerce ministry is working on several steps, including development of a national logistics portal to boost both domestic and foreign trade. The main departments involved in the process include Railways, Shipping, Road Transport, Civil Aviation and Customs. The plan will map the logistics requirements keeping in mind 2035 as the target year. It would also align infrastructure development of various central ministries with one another.

Promoting exports helps a country to create jobs, boost manufacturing and earn more foreign exchange. The commerce ministry is developing the national logistics portal as a single window market place to link all stakeholders, and preparing an integrated strategy to reduce cost of exports, imports and domestic trade. The Department of Logistics, under the ministry, also inked a memorandum of understanding with Indian institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) to set up a centre for logistics. The cost of logistics for India is about 14% of its GDP and it is far higher as compared to other countries.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11282.35, down by 5.15 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 11264.25 and 11340.10. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 2.57%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.09%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.70%, Sun Pharma up by 1.63% and Wipro up by 1.22%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.56%, HPCL down by 3.45%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 3.09%, Tata Motors down by 2.53% and Axis Bank down by 2.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 60.08 points or 0.27% to 22,604.61, Taiwan Weighted declined 29.73 points or 0.28% to 10,722.57, Hang Seng dropped 104.30 points or 0.4% to 26,318.25, KOSPI slipped 0.28 points or 0.01% to 2,282.92 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.34 points or 0.47% to 2,652.46.

On the flip side, Straits Times increased 2.23 points or 0.07% to 3,112.14 and Jakarta Composite was up by 10.04 points or 0.17% to 5,841.16.