Benchmarks trade choppy in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade choppy in early noon deals with frontline gauges trading tad below their neutral lines amid lackluster cues from global markets. Besides, broader indices were also trading in red. Traders remained concerned with the report that the Budget proposal to impose a higher tax surcharge - from 15% to 25% for incomes between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore and from 15% to 37% for higher incomes - on non-corporate FPIs had rattled the market. Traders paid no heed towards capital market regulator SEBI is planning to unveil a slew of reforms, including for greater checks on credit rating agencies and for rewarding informants in insider trading cases with up to Rs 1 crore reward. However, losses remained capped as traders took solace with corporate tax rate cut by the government before making fresh bets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mixed as fresh worries about a global recession led investors to dump risky assets, with US President Donald Trump showing no signs of backing down in his trade war with China. Back home, banking stocks edged lower with a private report that overall loan growth for banks in the first quarter ending June dropped 1.2% quarter-on-quarter led by modest net interest income (NII) and a sharp drop in pre-provision operating profits.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37279.66, down by 48.35 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 37237.47 and 37406.55. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.43%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.35%, TECK up by 0.19% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.18%, while Metal down by 1.49%, Realty down by 1.12%, Industrials down by 1.05%, Basic Materials down by 0.99% and Capital Goods was down by 0.90% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.08%, Infosys up by 0.71%, HDFC Bank up by 0.71%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.70% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 5.83%, Tata Motors down by 4.89%, Yes Bank down by 3.51%, Tata Steel down by 1.97% and Vedanta down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to improve healthcare in India, Niti Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul has said that there is need to address the challenges of human resources in the sector. He also said ‘the most difficult journey that we face today is about having the right mix, the right numbers, right quality, right skills and the right distribution of human resources in the healthcare sector.’

Paul also observed that there is shortages of doctors and specialists in the country and the crisis in regards of specialists is even more acute. For this, he said the country needs huge participation from the private sector. He also said ‘we will reach one doctor for 1,000 people by the end of the current term of the government that is 2024.’ He felt that this gap in the human resources can only be met through an aggressive partnership between public and private sectors. He added that with the reforms in the health sector, a consortium of private players can now set up a medical college, unlike in the past when a medical college had to be established by a single entity.

About the government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, Niti Aayog Member said it has provided a way for working together by both public sector and private sector in providing healthcare to the people of the country. He also said most important highlight of scheme is that it has now finally established ‘One India, one nation, one health sector’. Adding further, he said rise in GDP in percentage terms on the healthcare to 2.5 percent is a national commitment and has been reiterated by the country’s leadership. However, he said ‘we must remember when we have to raise the overall spend on healthcare, it has to come from both centre and states.’  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10993.10, down by 23.90 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 10982.20 and 11034.20. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 1.36%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.06%, HDFC Bank up by 0.67%, Infosys up by 0.62% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.93%, Yes Bank down by 3.37%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.25%, Tata Steel down by 2.11% and Vedanta down by 2.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 declined 62.85 points or 0.30% to 20,614.37, Straits Times shed 9.10 points or 0.29% to 3,126.85, Jakarta Composite slipped 36.78 points or 0.58% to 6,258.96.

On the flip side, Hang Seng surged 2.74 points or 0.01% to 26,234.28, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 6.13 points or 0.06% to 10,528.63, KOSPI decreased3.31 points or 0.17% to 1,963.56 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.72 points or 0.09% to 2,882.72.