Lacklustre trade continues on Dalal Street in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading lacklustre in early noon deals as traders remained on sidelines ahead of Budget announcement on July 5 and first quarter results to be released from next week. Traders remain concerned after the country's services sector activity in June contracted for the first time since May 2018 as weak sales, competitive pressures and unfavourable taxation hampered output. The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index fell to 49.6 in June, down from 50.2 in May, as broadly stagnant sales caused the first drop in business activity in over a year. However, traders are taking some solace with Crisil’s report stating that scaling up and the need to build digital capabilities will lead to faster consolidation among the mid-tier information technology (IT) companies in India. As per report, exit by promoters of tier II firms in the past two years who are capitalising on higher valuations and better growth prospects will also drive this trend. Meanwhile, buying in capital goods and realty segment too providing some support to domestic markets, while traders were selling stake in metal and healthcare stocks. In scrip specific developments, Bharti Airtel gained after its arm tying up with Bharti AXA Life Insurance and IOC traded in green on lining up projects worth Rs 8,520 crore in Tamil Nadu.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39859.92, up by 43.44 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 39732.38 and 39908.47. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.56%, Realty up by 0.51%, PSU up by 0.49%, Power up by 0.40% and Industrials was up by 0.40%, while Metal down by 0.42%, Healthcare down by 0.41%, Utilities down by 0.08%, Auto down by 0.07% and IT was down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.59%, Asian Paints up by 1.26%, ONGC up by 0.91%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.86% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.06%, HCL Tech down by 0.75%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.69%, Tata Motors down by 0.67% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to achieve an agriculture export target of $60 billion by 2022, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has taken decision to set up a Cooperative Sector Exports Promotion Forum (CSEPF) under the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) which will work with 20 states and union territories in the area of export. He also informed that the first-ever ‘International Cooperative Trade Fair’ will be organized to promote exports by cooperatives. He noted that there are more than 8 lakh cooperative institutions in India and 94 percent of the country’s 15 crore farmers are members of at least one cooperative body.

The minister has stated that cooperatives are in a nascent stage right now as far as exports are concerned. Therefore, he said the government’s aim is to get them together and encourage them produce and market products for the global market. He also pointed out that boosting farm exports will help the government achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. He added that all concerned ministries are working jointly towards this direction.

Goyal has said that the international trade fair is one such platform for cooperatives to interact with global buyers and understand their needs and accordingly produce or manufacture products. He also noted that the trade fair, to be organized jointly by commerce, agriculture and external affairs ministries with support of cooperative bodies such as the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, will show direction for exporting value-added agriculture products.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11907.50, down by 2.80 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 11887.05 and 11932.15. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 3.49%, Britannia up by 1.62%, Indusind Bank up by 1.51%, Asian Paints up by 1.27% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.18%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.43%, Eicher Motors down by 2.24%, GAIL India down by 1.88%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.33% and Hindalco down by 1.05% were the top losers.

All the Asian counters are trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 116.11 points or 0.53% to 21,638.16, Straits Times shed 10.11 points or 0.30% to 3,360.69, Hang Seng dropped 97.19 points or 0.34% to 28,778.37, Taiwan Weighted tumbled 121.35 points or 1.12% to 10,743.77, KOSPI decreased 25.93 points or 1.22% to 2,096.09, Jakarta Composite slipped 35.46 points or 0.56% to 6,349.44 and Shanghai Composite was down by 28.74 points or 0.94% to 3,015.20.