Benchmarks continue lackluster trade in nood deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, amid weakness in Asian peers on US-China trade concerns. Traders remained cautious ahead of Budget announcements due later this week. Pessimism over some heavyweight Q3 corporate results too weighed on the sentiment. However, losses were limited as some optimism remained among the traders with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest data showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) during the previous fiscal grew 18 per cent to Rs 28.25 lakh crore. As per data, FDI increased by Rs 4,33,300 crore, including revaluation of past investments, during 2017-18 to reach Rs 28,24,600 crore in March 2018 at market value. The RBI said as many as 23,065 companies responded to the latest round of the census, of which, 20,732 firms had FDI or ODI in their balance sheet in March 2018.  Meanwhile, newly-appointed interim Finance Minister, Piyush Goyal, held a review meeting with public sector banks to deliberate on wide-ranging issues including providing easy finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and home buyers.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the charging of Chinese giant Huawei in the US cast a shadow over upcoming trade talks, while investors were also tracking a Wall Street sell-off fuelled by concerns corporate profits. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35641.96, down by 14.74 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 35532.53 and 35718.90. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.41%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.20%, Healthcare up by 1.05%, Basic Materials up by 0.86%, Metal up by 0.76% and PSU up by 0.70%, while Energy down by 0.79%, IT down by 0.45%, Consumer Durables down by 0.23%, TECK down by 0.18% and Capital Goods down by 0.12% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.76%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.97%, Tata Motors up by 1.48%, SBI up by 1.47% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.28%, Reliance Industries down by 1.27%, Infosys down by 0.98%, HDFC down by 0.75% and Yes Bank down by 0.70% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to extend credit while observing prudential norms without getting excessively conservative. He highlighted the importance of PSBs for the economy at all times and especially at the current juncture in helping meet broader economic goals. He also emphasised the need for further strengthening various aspects of banking, including underwriting standards, capacity building, use of technology and governance.

Ahead of the monetary policy review, Das met heads of PSBs and conveyed to them the regulator's expectation from the banking sector in general and public sector banks in particular, and also to get from them their understanding of the current banking situation, and to get an understanding about the future outlook, the sense they have.

Meanwhile, the RBI is scheduled to announce its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-19 on February 7. It would be the first monetary policy review under the new RBI Governor. It is widely expected that the RBI would cut interest rate in its upcoming review meeting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10657.35, down by 4.20 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 10616.85 and 10675.50. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 4.83%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.84%, Sun Pharma up by 2.68%, Cipla up by 2.25% and Bharti Infratel up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 5.91%, Eicher Motors down by 2.65%, GAIL India down by 1.41%, Reliance Industries down by 1.35% and Power Grid down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 53.42 points or 0.19% to 27,523.54, Jakarta Composite dropped 3.83 points or 0.06% to 6,454.88, Taiwan Weighted dropped 81.74 points or 0.82% to 9,931.59, Shanghai Composite declined 3.15 points or 0.12% to 2,593.83 and Straits Times trembled 7.98 points or 0.25% to 3,191.52.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 15.64 points or 0.08% to 20,664.64 and KOSPI rose 6.06 points or 0.28% to 2,183.36.