Sensex, Nifty continue to trade choppy ahead of RBI meeting

Indian benchmarks were trading choppy in early noon session as investors turned cautious ahead of RBI's monetary policy review. Selling in Tata Motors, Coal India and Bharti Airtel dragged the markets lower, with Sensex and Nifty losing around 0.07% and 0.02% respectively. Investors’ appetite for risk declined as the Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index declined to a three-month low of 52.2 in January from 53.2 in December, but remained above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction for an eighth month. Sentiment remained bearish with the government data showing that fiscal deficit touched 112.4% of the full-year budget target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of December on account of lower revenue collections. The fiscal deficit, or gap between Government's expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore during April-December of the current financial year which ends in March. However, losses remained limited with Union Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan’s statement that the country's exports in the current fiscal year are expected to surpass the earlier peak of $314 billion in 2013-14.  The achievement comes against the backdrop of a very challenging global environment. The exports, in general, have been growing almost consistently for the last three years.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are shut for the Lunar New Year holidays. Back on streets, on scrip specific developments, IDBI Bank slipped on reporting a net loss of Rs 4185.48 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 as compared to the net loss of Rs 1524.31 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. However, Rubfila International gained on receiving an approval for expansion plans making use of the land, building and other assets purchased by the company at Swaminathapuram, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36558.06, down by 24.68 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 36495.83 and 36653.17. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.01%, while Small cap index was down by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Auto up by 0.60%, Consumer Disc up by 0.36%, Utilities up by 0.20% and Capital Goods was up by 0.17%, while Telecom down by 1.71%, Realty down by 0.87%, TECK down by 0.52%, Metal down by 0.44% and IT was down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.84%, Indusind Bank up by 1.77%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.66%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.64% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 1.44%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.44%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.21%, Coal India down by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.47% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India fell by 11 percent to $22.66 billion during the first half of the financial year 2019 (H1FY19). According to commerce and industry ministry data, the foreign fund inflows stood at $ 25.35 billion during April-September 2017-18.

Data further indicated that key sectors that received maximum foreign investment up to September, 2018 include services ($ 4.91 billion), computer software and hardware ($2.54 billion), telecommunications ($2.17 billion), trading ($2.14 billion), chemicals ($1.6 billion), and automobile industry ($1.59 billion). It also showed that Singapore was the largest source of FDI during April-September 2018-19 with $8.62 billion inflow, followed by Mauritius ($3.88 billion), the Netherlands ($2.31 billion), Japan ($1.88 billion), the US ($970 million), and UK ($845 million).

FDI had increased at a five-year low growth of 3 percent at $ 44.85 billion in 2017-18. It pointed out that a decline in foreign inflows could put pressure on the country's balance of payments and may also impact the value of the rupee.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10910.50, down by 1.75 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 10886.70 and 10931.00. There were 27 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.06%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.98%, Titan Co up by 2.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.89% and Bajaj Finance was up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.33%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.71%, Coal India down by 1.67%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.27% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were closed on account of Lunar New Year holiday. Nikkei 225 was down by 46.07 points or 0.22% to 20,837.70.