Indian markets trade flat with positive bias

Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat with a positive bias in afternoon session, on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. Investors were taking support with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s statement that there was "no cause of concern" about monsoon following the latest IMD estimate, but the government is keeping a close watch on it. He said that the sowing of kharif (summer) crops like paddy will pick up as the IMD estimates good rains in the coming months. However, gains were limited as anxiety remained among the traders with a monthly survey showed 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. On the sectoral front, coffee stocks were in focus with provisional numbers released by the state-run Coffee Board revealing that low prices coupled with weak demand from key buyers in Europe have impacted India's coffee exports for the April-June quarter this year.

On the global front, Asian counters are trading in red, as initial enthusiasm over the latest U.S.-China trade truce was overtaken by fresh concerns over Washington's threat of tariffs on additional European goods. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39825.82, up by 9.34 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 39732.38 and 39908.47. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 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 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.59%, Realty up by 0.47%, PSU up by 0.47%, Power up by 0.44% and Industrials up by 0.42%, while Metal down by 0.47%, IT down by 0.42%, Healthcare down by 0.40%, Telecom down by 0.36% and TECK down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.99%, Asian Paints up by 1.12%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.92%, Power Grid up by 0.82% and Axis Bank up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.17%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.94%, Tata Motors down by 0.89%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.61% and Infosys down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government is likely to impose anti-dumping duty on imports of certain kinds of steel products from the EU, Japan, the US and South Korea, as the commerce ministry has started an investigation into an alleged dumping of the item following complaints from domestic players. Commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has initiated the probe as it has found evidence of dumping of ‘coated/plated tin mill flat rolled steel products’ from these countries.

The DGTR in its notification has said that the authority accordingly initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry to determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping. If it would established that dumping is impacting domestic players, it would recommend imposition of a certain amount of anti-dumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry.

The final call to impose the duty would be taken by the Finance Ministry. Two firms including Tinplate Company of India have filed an application for imposition of anti-dumping duty on the imports. The product under consideration is mainly used for packaging of both edible and non-food items. The period of investigation covers January-December 2018. However, for the purpose of injury investigation, the period will also cover the data for the 2015-18 period. The purpose of anti-dumping duty is to eliminate injury caused to the domestic industry by the unfair trade practices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11912.60, up by 2.30 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 11887.05 and 11932.15. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.91%, Indusind Bank up by 2.88%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.60%, Britannia Inds up by 1.34% and Asian Paints up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.20%, Vedanta down by 2.12%, GAIL India down by 1.96%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.62% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.57% were the top losers.

All the Asian counters are trading in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 121.35 points or 1.12% to 10,743.77, Straits Times trembled 11.36 points or 0.34% to 3,359.44, KOSPI fell 26.00 points or 1.23% to 2,096.02, Jakarta Composite lost 32.62 points or 0.51% to 6,352.28, Shanghai Composite declined 36.65 points or 1.2% to 3,007.29, Nikkei 225 slipped 116.11 points or 0.53% to 21,638.16 and Hang Seng decreased 74.70 points or 0.26% to 28,800.86.