Domestic indices trade lower with marginal cut

Bulls took a breather with a cautious start on Wednesday amid lack of cues from the US markets. Also, lackluster trade in Asian counterparts dampened sentiments in the domestic markets. Indices tried to gain momentum but failed to sustain their gains and slipped below neutral lines in early deals as investors opted to book profits after recent rally. Markets are trading lower with marginal cut. Some cautiousness came in with Icra Ratings’ report that states continue to pay higher interest rates to investors for their debt, with the latest weighted average cost rising to 7.46 per cent at Tuesday's auctions wherein nine states raised Rs 16,200 crore. Though, down side remain limited amid foreign fund inflows. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 2,134.33 crore on July 4. Besides, investors are looking ahead to the Services PMI data to be out later in the day for more cues. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly lower amid report showing that the services sector in Japan continued to expand in June, albeit at a slower pace. A services PMI score is 54.0 that's down from the series record of 55.9 in May. The survey also showed that the composite index slipped to 52.1 in June from 54.3 in May. Back home, in stock specific development, Genus Power Infrastructure soared amid reports that GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, will acquire a 74 percent stake in its new smart metering solutions venture for $2 billion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65370.35, down by 108.70 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 65317.91 and 65584.33. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.72%, Capital Goods up by 0.63%, Industrials up by 0.63%, Auto up by 0.52%, Healthcare up by 0.46%, while Realty down by 0.40%, Bankex down by 0.22%, TECK down by 0.05%, IT down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.00%, ICICI Bank up by 1.62%, Asian Paints up by 1.14%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.90% and ITC up by 0.80%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.44%, HDFC down by 2.35%, Wipro down by 0.96%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.33% and Infosys down by 0.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government will always act as a facilitator to strengthen the startup ecosystem and not act as a regulator. He said that stakeholders of this ecosystem will do self-regulation. The minister said the governments will not be looking at impeding the progress of the work that startups are doing.

He said the best way is to be out of the startups ecosystem, and added that the government is not expected to start regulating or dictating or micro-managing the ecosystem. He said ‘Our role will always be that of a facilitator and I do not see the government becoming an administrator or a regulator of this sector’. He added that the job of the government is to give an initial push or early stage finance to budding entrepreneurs.

The minister also said that India provides an unique opportunity to the world of startups. He highlighted that India has the advantage of skilled talent, affordability, growing startup culture, and aspirational population. He invited the startups of the world to come and explore opportunities in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19379.05, down by 9.95 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 19344.70 and 19421.60. There were 32 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.94%, Divi's Lab up by 2.76%, Indusind Bank up by 2.75%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.53% and SBI Life Insurance up by 1.46%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.47%, HDFC Bank down by 2.44%, Wipro down by 0.92%, UPL down by 0.44% and Eicher Motors down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 268.03 points or 1.38% to 19,147.65, Nikkei 225 slipped 128.71 points or 0.39% to 33,293.81, Taiwan Weighted lost 36.66 points or 0.21% to 17,104.11, Shanghai Composite weakened 16.67 points or 0.52% to 3,228.68, Straits Times fell 15.11 points or 0.47% to 3,188.66 and KOSPI was down by 4.76 points or 0.18% to 2,588.55, while Jakarta Composite was up by 19.12 points or 0.29% to 6,700.87.