Indian equities continue lackluster trade

Key Indian benchmarks continued to trade on a lackluster note in early noon session, on the back of selling in Realty, IT and Auto stocks following moderate sentiment in other Asian markets.  Sentiment remained dampened following a report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is worried that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which processes nearly half of all the digital payments across the country, may become a monopoly and be a too-big-to-fail entity in India's retail payments sector. Some anxiety also came with a private report penning that it is important for India to stay the course on fiscal consolidation as aggregate deficit combining central and state deficits has not improved much in the last five years. However, downside remained capped with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that India will eventually surpass China in economic size and will be in a better position to create the infrastructure being promised by the Chinese side in South Asian countries. Further, India is expected to edge past the US with regard to steel consumption this year. Growth trend in steel consumption in India will continue, due to strong manufacturing sector, diversified demand demographics, accelerated expenditure on infrastructure, anticipated increase in GDP and strong focus on 'Make in India'.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as Japan's exports in December fell the most in more than two years, dragged by plummeting shipments to China and regional markets as weak global demand and US-Sino trade frictions take their toll on the trade-reliant economy. Back on street, on scrip specific developments, YES Bank gained on joining hands with the Maharashtra government to onboard fair price shops (FPS) as Business Correspondent Agents. However, ICICI Prudential Life lost on reporting a fall of 34.36% in its net profit at Rs 296.77 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 452.10 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36429.21, down by 15.43 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 36363.61 and 36521.47. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.84%, Metal up by 0.69%, Basic Materials up by 0.63%, Healthcare up by 0.49% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.18%, while Realty down by 0.43%, IT down by 0.38%, Auto down by 0.30%, TECK down by 0.23% and PSU was down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.81%, Yes Bank up by 1.77%, Tata Steel up by 1.25%, Sun Pharma up by 1.15% and Bajaj Finance was up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.12%, HDFC down by 1.11%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.74%, Indusind Bank down by 0.73% and TCS was down by 0.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has expressed hopes that India will overtake China in economic size and will ultimately place itself in a better position to create infrastructure in the region which China is promising today. He said that historically, India had a bigger role in the region but China has now grown faster than India and has presented itself as a counter balance to India in the region. He also felt that the Indian economy would continue to grow as the growth rate in China would slow down.

According to him, besides Free Trade Agreement (FTA), there is a lot of scope for work to be done. Apart from business, he noted 'social sector can be another way and we can have more sharing of students across the region'. While noting that people movement and especially youth going to another country can have a strong impact, he said that India is the largest country in the region and it must play the role it needs to play. He pointed out that there are many places where India has funded the process, but a lot more can be done, including on trade side, so that tariffs can come down.

Rajan's comments assume importance with China working on a lot of infrastructure projects across the region, including in Nepal and in Pakistan. According to World Bank statistics for 2017, India has become the sixth largest economy leaving behind France. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was at $2.59 trillion in 2017 compared with $2.58 trillion France’s economy. China was the second largest with a GDP of $12.23 trillion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10923.35, up by 0.60 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 10905.50 and 10942.55. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.97%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.87%, Wipro up by 1.80%, Yes Bank up by 1.64% and Tata Steel was up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.31%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.08%, HDFC down by 0.95%, Tata Motors down by 0.94% and TCS was down by 0.89% were the top losers.
 
Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Shanghai Composite fell by 1.96 points or 0.08% to 2,577.74, Straits Times trembled 11.12points or 0.35% to 3,181.59, Nikkei 225 lost 27.81 points or 0.13% to 20,595.10, , Hang Seng dropped 33.66 points or 0.12% to 26,971.79 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 52.30 points or 0.53% to 9,842.36.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite soared 8.42 points or 0.13% to 6,476.98 and KOSPI rose 4.77points or 0.23% to 2,122.54.