Benchmarks trade with marginal losses in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a cautious start and are trading marginally lower in early deals as investors awaited March-quarter corporate earnings. IT major TCS and Infosys will kick off the March quarter earnings season on April 12 as well as the first phase of general elections will take place later this week. However, losses remain capped with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is expected to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030 with GDP touching $10 trillion, helped by consumption and investment growth. Currently, the size of the Indian economy is about $2.9 trillion. Talking about avenues of growth for the next 20 years, the finance minister listed infrastructure creation, rural expansion and gender parity, among others. Traders also took some solace with report that overseas investors have pumped in a net sum of Rs 8,634 crore into the Indian capital markets in the first five trading sessions of April, mainly due to positive market sentiment.

On the global front, most of the Asian counters are trading in red at this point of time despite reports of better-than-expected jobs data in the US and reports of progress in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. The US markets ended higher on Friday on solid US job data report and optimism over US-China trade talks.

Back home, aviation stocks edged lower despite Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that aviation turbine fuel (ATF) should be brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as it will ensure a level playing field for the domestic airline industry. He said input costs should be competitive for any sector and the ministry has been of the strong view that the fuel should be brought under the GST regime. In scrip specific developments, Adani power gained on securing LoI for Korba West Power Company and Sun Pharma edged higher on launching INFUGEM in US.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38844.25, down by 17.98 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 38828.97 and 39041.25. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.88%, Power up by 0.69%, Utilities up by 0.60%, Capital Goods up by 0.39% and Metal was up by 0.28%, while Energy down by 0.68%, Oil & Gas down by 0.66%, Auto down by 0.10% and PSU was down by 0.07% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 1.38%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.73%, Tata Steel up by 0.72% and Indusind Bank up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 1.29%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.96%, HCL Tech down by 0.64%, Tata Motors down by 0.61% and Reliance Industries down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over growth of Indian economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said the country is expected to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030 with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) touching $10 trillion, helped by consumption and investment growth. He added that GDP would be $5 trillion by 2024. Currently, the size of the Indian economy is about $2.9 trillion.

He said ‘That's when we will be amongst first three - US, China and India and then of course, we would in the rat race of the big three wanting to catch up with much mightier competitors. So the sheer size and opportunities is going to expand.’ Listing out avenues of growth for the next 20 years, he noted that infrastructure creation, rural expansion and gender parity, among others.

On the poverty of the country, he said the 2011 Census showed that 21.9% of India's population lived below the poverty line (BPL) and with the present rate of growth, this might have further reduced to 17%. He added that it should shrink to 15% by 2021 and further down to single digits by 2024-25. At the same time, the middle class population would increase to 44% from 29% in 2015. He said ‘Therefore as you look ahead you would see poverty deplete, you will see an exponential growth of middle class and probably by 2030 almost half of India would be in that category (middle class)’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11657.90, down by 8.05 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 11644.40 and 11710.30. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 1.58%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.32%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.91%, JSW Steel up by 0.83% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.04%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.33%, Yes Bank down by 1.26% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; NIKKEI 225 shed 36.34 points or 0.17% to 21,771.16, Straits Times decreased 9.33 points or 0.28% to 3,313.31, KOSPI decreased 1.16 points or 0.05% to 2,208.45, Jakarta Composite declined 62.67 points or 0.97% to 6,411.35 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2.93 points or 0.09% to 3,243.64.

On the flip side, Hang Seng jumped 87.19 points or 0.29% to 30,023.51 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 93.27 points or 0.87% to 10,797.65.