Markets trade flat in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks traded flat in afternoon session, as key corporate results remained in focus. The sentiment remained dull with Central Statistics Office (CSO) data indicating that India's Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth slipped to 3.1 per cent in May mainly on account of subdued performance of mining and manufacturing sector. The IIP had expanded by 3.8 per cent in May 2018. Besides, India's retail inflation hit an eight-month high in June on higher food prices, but stayed below the central bank's target, potentially giving it room for a further interest rate easing to boost slowing growth.  However, traders took some support with data showing that lower prices of key transportation fuels along with manufactured items and vegetable prices eased India's annual rate of inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) to 2.02 percent in June from 2.45 percent in May.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, as investors breathed a sigh of relief after encouraging Chinese data suggested the world's second-biggest economy may be starting to stabilise thanks to ramped-up stimulus from Beijing. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38749.38, up by 13.15 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 38719.33 and 39023.97. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.85%, while Small cap index was down by 0.63%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.80%, TECK up by 2.36% and Healthcare was up by 0.56%, while Capital Goods down by 1.45%, Metal down by 1.36%, Consumer Durables down by 1.15%, Industrials down by 1.08% and PSU was down by 0.97% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 6.73%, Sun Pharma up by 2.98%, Yes Bank up by 1.33%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.89% and TCS was up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.33%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.93%, Tata Steel down by 1.79%, Indusind Bank down by 1.63% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to deal with ongoing stress in Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) sector, guidelines will be issued soon for Public sector Undertakings (PSUs) to take over pooled assets of NBFCs. To enhance liquidity access for the sector, the government will provide one-time 6-month partial guarantee of Rs 1 lakh crore to state-run banks for purchasing consolidated high-rated pooled assets of financially-sound NBFCs. This will cover their first loss of up to 10 percent.

The banks would be allowed to pick up primarily 'AAA' rated assets where chances of delinquency is the lowest and big state-owned banks will be allowed to participate in this. It will help raise the balance sheet size of the participating banks and provide better-run NBFCs access to liquidity. Most of the assets will be not of maturity over three years. Banks, which themselves are in stress, will be kept out of this.

The government will allow NBFCs to raise funds in public issues, and the requirement of creating a debenture redemption reserve (DRR), which is currently applicable for only public issues as private placements are exempt, will be done away with. In a bid to improve regulatory oversight, the government also proposed to bring housing finance companies under the RBI from the fold of National Housing Bank. These steps are aimed at improving the condition of the NBFC sector as a whole. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11544.55, down by 7.95 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 11532.80 and 11618.40. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 6.44%, Sun Pharma up by 2.87%, UPL up by 1.60%, Yes Bank up by 1.27% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.82%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.55%, Vedanta down by 2.33%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.85% and Tata Steel was down by 1.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite soared 60.38 points or 0.95% to 6,433.73, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 52.08 points or 0.48% to 10,876.43, Hang Seng increased 41.80 points or 0.15% to 28,513.42 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.08 points or 0.14% to 2,934.63. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 3.72 points or 0.11% to 3,353.62 and KOSPI was down by 4.18 points or 0.2% to 2,082.48.