Markets continue choppy trade in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their choppy trade in afternoon session, tracking weakness in Asian peers. Traders also remain worried with a report that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is planning to further tighten rules for participatory notes (P-notes), offshore derivative instruments issued by brokers to foreign investors not registered in the country. However, investors found some support with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a $5-trillion economy and a global economic powerhouse by 2024-25 is ‘challenging’ but ‘realisable’ and underlined that more reforms are on the anvil before the end of the fiscal year. In the currency front, the rupee emerged strong, and was trading at 71.29 against US Dollar, higher by 14 paise. On the sectoral front, select stocks related to Telecom sector edged higher with report that the government is considering a two-year holiday from spectrum payments, a longer payment tenure and lower rates of interest in order to revive the stressed telecom sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid a report that there’s still a ways to go before the U.S. and China finalize a 'phase one' limited trade deal. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38668.55, up by 69.56 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 38557.43 and 38710.30. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.59%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services up by 0.54%, Consumer Durables up by 0.46%, Bankex up by 0.45% and Auto was up by 0.36%, while Metal down by 1.14%, Basic Materials down by 0.79%, Telecom down by 0.79%, Oil & Gas down by 0.67% and Utilities was down by 0.54% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.01%, Indusind Bank up by 2.40%, Asian Paints up by 1.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.07% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.61%, TCS down by 1.60%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.40%, ONGC down by 1.34% and Tata Steel was down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that trade negotiations between India and the US are going well and will conclude sooner than expected. She also said that India is keen on a fair and reasonable trade deal in which its request for market access is secured while also addressing the trade deficit issue raised by the US. She added that trade tensions between India and the US have been rising with President Donald Trump, championing his ‘America First’ policy, complaining that tariffs imposed by New Delhi on American products were ‘no longer acceptable’ to his country.

Sitharaman has stated that the government is focused on boosting consumption. She said steps have been taken to push liquidity through Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and through the banks to reach the ground level. She also said the government had formed a task force which will help front-load a large part of this money for infrastructure.

Talking about demonetisation, the minister said there was every reason for it to have been implemented. She also said that note ban was one of the very important steps taken in order to contain black money, together with the fact that many of the transactions of the Indian economy were not under any institutional radar. She added ‘so the best thing about demonetization was that with one stroke we fulfilled one of our promises (to fight corruption and contain black money) and also simultaneously brought India to the digital sphere.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11469.45, up by 5.45 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 11439.65 and 11482.60. There were 20 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.26%, Eicher Motors up by 4.14%, Indusind Bank up by 2.35%, Britannia Industries up by 2.09% and Zee Entertainment was up by 1.79%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.04%, Hindalco down by 2.21%, TCS down by 1.74%, Tata Steel down by 1.66% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 21.06 points or 0.09% to 22,451.86, Straits Times trembled 18.83 points or 0.6% to 3,115.88, Shanghai Composite declined 8.21 points or 0.28% to 2,970.50 and KOSPI fell 4.89 points or 0.23% to 2,077.94.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 12.24 points or 0.2% to 6,181.83, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 24.05 points or 0.22% to 11,186.88 and Hang Seng increased 119.08 points or 0.45% to 26,783.36.