Markets trade tad higher in early deals; M&M leads gainers

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start of new week amid weakness in global markets. But, markets managed to keep their heads above water in early deals. Sensex and Nifty are trading higher with gains of around 0.20% each. Some support came in as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said that India is unlikely to be impacted by any adverse developments in Taiwan. The Governor said Taiwan accounts for only 0.7 per cent of India's overall trade and the capital flows from the island are also not very high. Traders took note of report that SEBI constituted an expert group of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to boost overseas flows into the country. FIIs net bought worth Rs. 1605.81 crore of shares on August 5. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that states should develop a clear time-bound road map for the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) and focus on promoting trade, tourism and technology. He also asked for collective action to increase Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections.

Most of the Asian markets are trading lower, following the mostly negative cues from global markets on Friday, as traders react to the US Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which delivered better than expected employment data in July, leading to again raise concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said Japan posted a current account deficit of 132.4 billion yen in June. That beat expectations for a shortfall of 703.8 billion yen following the 128.4 billion yen surplus in May.

Back home, sugar industry stocks were buzzing as the government relaxed the quantitative restriction of 10 million tonnes on sugar exports and allowed shipments of an additional 1.2 million tonnes in the current marketing year ending September. In stock specific developments, M&M gained as its consolidated net profit jumped more than five times in the June quarter from the year-ago period on account of provisioning at its finance arm, Mahindra Financial Services. However, SBI fell after it posted 7 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 6,068 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year due to fall in income.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58498.85, up by 110.92 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 58266.65 and 58530.13. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.32%, while Small cap index was up by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.08%, Capital Goods up by 1.00%, Utilities up by 0.89%, Auto up by 0.79%, Industrials up by 0.68%, while PSU down by 0.55%, Oil & Gas down by 0.44%, IT down by 0.39%, TECK down by 0.39%, Bankex down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.17%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.58%, Indusind Bank up by 1.38%, NTPC up by 1.19% and Reliance Industries up by 1.13%. On the flip side, SBI down by 2.53%, Infosys down by 0.65%, ICICI Bank down by 0.60%, TCS down by 0.53% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said India is unlikely to be impacted by any adverse developments in Taiwan. He said Taiwan accounts for only 0.7 per cent of India's overall trade. There are tensions between Taiwan and China, triggered by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island nation which Beijing views as a breakaway province. A belligerent China has tested missiles and sent 100 warplanes and 10 warships for live-fire military drills in the close vicinity of Taiwan.

The Governor said ‘...so far as India is concerned, you know, our trade with Taiwan is miniscule. It's about 0.7 per cent of our total trade. So therefore the impact on India is expected to be very, very, very negligible’. He added that capital flows from Taiwan in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) and other instruments are also very low.

He said ‘so, therefore India is not really going to be impacted with regard to what's happening or what is likely to happen in Taiwan’. About the developments in Sri Lanka, he said any discussions will be done by the governments. He highlighted that the RBI only studies the economic developments with regard to the ramification on the Indian economy.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17435.65, up by 38.15 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 17359.75 and 17436.00. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.26%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.72%, Hindalco up by 1.63%, Indusind Bank up by 1.61% and NTPC up by 1.54%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.24%, SBI down by 2.52%, Cipla down by 0.49%, Infosys down by 0.49% and Shree Cement down by 0.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times declined 19.63 points or 0.60% to 3,263.25, Hang Seng slipped 146.99 points or 0.73% to 20,054.95, Taiwan Weighted lost 37.88 points or 0.25% to 14,998.16, KOSPI fell 2.26 points or 0.09% to 2,488.54 and Jakarta Composite was down by 16.29 points or 0.23% to 7,068.37. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 rose 73.87 points or 0.26% to 28,249.74 and Shanghai Composite was up by 6.04 points or 0.19% to 3,233.07.