Benchmarks continue lackluster trade marginally in red

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade marginally in red in afternoon session, as International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut global growth outlook and also pared India's growth forecast for the next two years. Investors’ sentiments remain dented with the finance ministry’s statement that the government has fallen short of Rs 50,000 crore in its direct tax collection target of Rs 12 lakh crore for 2018-19. Investors also remained cautious ahead of March-quarter earnings beginning later this week. However, losses were limited as traders found some support with report that the government has managed to meet the revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent of the GDP after it cut last minute expenditure and rolled over fuel subsidies to make up for the shortfall in tax collection. Meanwhile, markets regulator SEBI has streamlined the procedure for issuing certified copies of orders and circulars to the parties involved and other applicants. For the parties involved in the proceedings, the regulator said certified copies of the orders passed by SEBI will be provided without charging any fee.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38851.84, down by 87.38 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 38828.63 and 38950.45. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.10%, Healthcare up by 0.89%, Industrials up by 0.58%, Energy up by 0.40% and Capital Goods was up by 0.35%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.33%, Utilities down by 0.29%, IT down by 0.21%, TECK down by 0.20% and Bankex was down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.00%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.22%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.16% and Yes Bank was up by 0.89%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.66%, TCS down by 1.45%, HCL Tech. down by 1.39%, HDFC down by 1.37% and Asian Paints was down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to curb rising airfares, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked each of the airlines to bring individual medium-term plan on enhancing overall availability of domestic flights. DGCA has been meeting with the airlines continuously so that they augment their additional capacity, which would be over and above the flights approved for the summer schedule.

Airfares have been on an upswing across India over the span of the last few weeks due to sharp decline in number of flights primarily caused by grounding of three-fourths of cash-strapped Jet Airways' 119-aircraft fleet. The availability of flights was also hit by pulling out of Spice Jet's 12 '737 Max' aircraft in March following safety concerns in the wake of crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet on March 10.

The DGCA had approved a nearly seven-month-long summer schedule beginning March 31 for SpiceJet, Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and GoAir. However, for Jet Airways, it approved the summer schedule for nearly a month only due to its financial crisis. The DGCA approves winter as well as summer schedules every year in order to ensure smooth flights operations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11651.50, down by 20.45 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 11638.65 and 11680.05. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.30%, Cipla up by 3.16%, Wipro up by 2.48%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.45% and Hindustan Unilever was up by 1.33%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.81%, HDFC Bank down by 1.68%, Hindalco down by 1.66%, GAIL India down by 1.43% and HDFC was down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite gained 20.33 points or 0.63% to 3,259.99, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 16.54 points or 0.15% to 10,868.14, KOSPI rose 10.83 points or 0.49% to 2,224.39 and Straits Times was up by2.70 points or 0.08% to 3,328.30.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 18.88 points or 0.29% to 6,465.47, Hang Seng decreased 86.26 points or 0.29% to 30,071.23 and Nikkei 225 was down by 115.02 points or 0.53% to 21,687.57.