Benchmarks pare gains to trade flat in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks pared most of their gains and are trading flat in early noon deals with frontline gauges trading tad above their neutral lines as investors adopted a wait-and-watch approach for key microeconomic data to be release later in the day. The broader indices were trading in green. Traders took some support with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the government will frontload infrastructure spending in a bid to give the economy a boost and announce one or two more sets of stimulus measures aimed at reviving growth in the coming quarters. However, cautiousness crept in as global rating agency Moody's statement that Indian non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) are pulling back on loan against property (LAP) lending to micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) because of the funding squeeze caused by the liquidity crisis in the country's financial sector.

Asian markets were trading mixed on hopes for a thaw in US-China trade frictions and expectations that the European Central Bank will kick off another wave of monetary easing by global central banks. Back home, on the sectrol front, banking stock remained in the focus with report that the government has decided to infuse Rs 55,000 capital in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) under consolidation process in a week's time.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37304.56, up by 33.74 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 37299.42 and 37435.15. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.21%, while Small cap index was up by 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Basic Materials up by 0.86%, Bankex up by 0.86%, Metal up by 0.46%, PSU up by 0.29% and Industrials was up by 0.27%, while Telecom down by 1.24%, Auto down by 0.97%, TECK down by 0.70%, IT down by 0.61%, Energy down by 0.37% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.83%, Indusind Bank up by 2.35%, Tata Steel up by 1.57%, HDFC up by 1.41% and HDFC Bank up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.49%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.41%, Tata Motors down by 2.57%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.75% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) in its latest report ‘Hi-tech Manufacturing in India’ has stated that high-tech sectors in India like electronics, aviation, medical devices have the potential to attract a huge $21 billion in investment and create 550,000 direct jobs and 1,400,000 indirect jobs over the next five years. It also said Industry looks forward to working with the government to make India a world-class manufacturing hub that can reinforce domestic manufacturing as well as support India's export sector to create the much-needed jobs for Indians.

According to the report, while electronics, aerospace and medical devices have saw the entry of various global multinational companies in India for manufacturing, the country's share in global production within these sectors is less than three percent. It noted that some of the major challenges identified comprise the need for a strong supplier ecosystem, reduction in logistics cost, enhance skilled workforce, and enabling regulatory policies. It also seeks widening of Goods and Services Tax (GST) coverage by bringing in products/sectors presently excluded from it to help reduce cascading impact of taxes and manufacturing cost.

For the electronics sector, the report suggests uniform duty structure across commodities by eliminating anomalies in HSN; appropriate classification of products to mitigate the risk of classification disputes and continued exemption in the form of zero duty for routers and other products as indicated in the Information Technology Agreement. It also recommends to link preferential market access (PMA) to exports and rationalize local value-addition norms to achievable targets. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11040.90, up by 5.20 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 11025.95 and 11081.75. There were 18 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 3.15%, ICICI Bank up by 2.81%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.57%, Indusind Bank up by 1.88% and Tata Steel up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.56%, Tata Motors down by 2.61%, Eicher Motors down by 1.78%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.49% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 205.31 points or 0.95% to 21,803.07, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 44.82 points or 0.42% to 10,835.17, Shanghai Composite gained 12.95 points or 0.43% to 3,021.76. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 9.49 points or 0.3% to 3,195.03, Jakarta Composite lost 22.95 points or 0.36% to 6,359.00 and Hang Seng was down by 57.26 points or 0.21% to 27,101.80.