Markets trade flat with positive bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday and hit fresh record highs. But, soon markets lost ground and are trading flat with positive bias in early deals. Initially, fall in coronavirus cases aided the sentiments in the markets. India recorded 46,643 cases in the last 24 hours, lowest since March 24, taking the country's total coronavirus caseload to 30,278,963. Adding more optimism, Economic think-tank NCAER expects the Indian economy to grow 8.4-10.1 percent for the current financial year as against a contraction of 7.3 percent in the last fiscal. However, some cautiousness came in as the government's total liabilities stood at Rs 116.21 lakh crore at the end of March 2021, up 6.36 per cent from the previous quarter. The total liabilities (including liabilities under the Public Account) of the government were Rs 109.26 lakh crore at end-December 2020. Also, RBI data showed that sliding from a lifetime high, India's forex reserves declined by $4.148 billion to reach $603.933 billion for the week ended June 18 due to a fall in gold and currency assets.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday as optimism about strong economic growth outweighed concerns about inflation. Investors are also cautious after a spike in coronavirus cases across several markets in the region over the weekend have led to lockdowns and restrictions in some areas.

Back home, infrastructure stocks were in focus with a private report that as many as 478 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.4 lakh crore. In scrip specific development, SJVN traded higher as it posted a 55 per cent YoY jump in its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 619.92 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52936.24, up by 11.20 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 52894.28 and 53126.73. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.57%, Healthcare up by 0.56%, Industrials up by 0.42%, Basic Materials up by 0.36%, FMCG up by 0.20%, while Power down by 0.55%, IT down by 0.31%, TECK down by 0.30%, Telecom down by 0.03%, Auto down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 0.86%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.79%, Asian Paints up by 0.76%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.43% and ICICI Bank up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.00%, TCS down by 0.93%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.50%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.33% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Public Debt Management report for the January-March 2021 quarter, released by the finance ministry, has said the government's total liabilities stood at Rs 116.21 lakh crore at the end of March 2021, up 6.36 per cent from the previous quarter. The total liabilities (including liabilities under the 'Public Account') of the government were Rs 109.26 lakh crore at end-December 2020.

It stated Public debt accounted for 88.10 per cent of total outstanding liabilities at end-March 2021. Nearly 29.33 per cent of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years. The ownership pattern shows the share of commercial banks at 37.8 per cent and 25.3 per cent for insurance companies. It mentioned the yields on Government securities hardened in the secondary market due to increase in supply of G-secs during the quarter. Further, hardening of yields was more on the short end of curve due to increase in weekly borrowing and also announcement of resumption of normal liquidity operations by the Reserve Bank.

However, the yields were supported by decision of the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on February 5, 2021, wherein it kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent and reiterated to continue with the accommodative stance. During January-March quarter of 2020-21, the central government issued dated securities worth Rs 3,20,349 crore as against Rs 76,000 crore in the year-ago period, while repayments were at Rs 29,145 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15860.75, up by 0.40 points after trading in a range of 15849.25 and 15915.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.19%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.64%, Grasim Industries up by 1.42%, Divi's Lab up by 1.09% and Tata Consumer Products up by 1.02%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.36%, TCS down by 0.97%, Titan Company down by 0.96%, IOC down by 0.45% and Coal India down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 22.68 points or 0.08% to 29,043.50, KOSPI fell 0.25 points or 0.01% to 3,302.59, Jakarta Composite lost 52.20 points or 0.87% to 5,970.20 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.98 points or 0.05% to 3,605.58. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 8.51 points or 0.27% to 3,130.11, Hang Seng jumped 405.76 points or 1.40% to 29,288.22 and Taiwan Weighted added 61.85 points or 0.35% to 17,564.84.