Markets trade flat with negative bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Monday as investors reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the US Fed's interest rate decision this week. Markets are trading flat with negative bias in early deals as traders struggling to find direction ahead monthly F&O expiry later in the week. Foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments in the markets. Provisional data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,998.77 crore on July 21. Traders were concerned as retail inflation for farm workers and rural labourers inched up marginally to 6.31 per cent and 6.16 per cent, respectively in June as compared to 5.99 per cent and 5.84 per cent in May this year. Some pessimism also came in as a private report that consumer price inflation is expected to overshoot the Reserve Bank’s tolerance mark of 6 per cent again in July and August due to the sky high vegetable prices. Though, downside remained capped as the Reserve Bank of India said India’s forex reserves have swelled by $12.743 billion to $609.022 billion in the week ended July 14, making it one of the strongest weekly surges in the kitty in recent times.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher as ahead of the US Fed's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week. Traders also looked ahead to central bank meetings in Europe and Japan this week for further clues on the rate outlook. Though, there was some cautiousness as the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in July, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed, with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.4 down from 49.8 in June. Back home, in stock specific developments, Reliance Industries fell as it reported a 11% drop in Q1 net profit, missing Street estimates. However, Power Finance Corporation soared after signing pacts with 20 companies in the clean energy category.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66569.05, down by 115.21 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 66532.31 and 66748.98. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.98%, Capital Goods up by 0.94%, Realty up by 0.88%, PSU up by 0.74% and Auto up by 0.47%, while Energy down by 0.61%, Consumer Durables down by 0.40%, Oil & Gas down by 0.40%, Metal down by 0.36% and Bankex down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.41%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.11%, Indusind Bank up by 0.75%, Axis Bank up by 0.59% and SBI up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.78%, Reliance Industries down by 2.16%, Tata Steel down by 0.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.63% and Titan Company down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s employment scenario, Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Bhagwanth Khuba has said that unemployment rate in the country is the lowest among the developing countries and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) has helped in achieving this self-sustaining employment. 

He said the Rozgar Melas being organised by the Central government are in line with the wishes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure transparency and corruption-free recruitment process. He alleged corruption and biases used to happen in recruitment earlier. He added post pandemic, India has achieved 7.2 per cent GDP growth rate which is the highest in the world. Even economic powerhouses like US and China could not achieve this rate of growth.

The Minister also said there is an enormous improvement in the lives of poor in India. The recent studies show that more than 15 crore people emerged out of poverty in the country in the last nine years. He noted farmers, through an innovative system called e-NaM, can sell their crops across India where they can get more profit. As many as 11.5 crore farmers are benefiting through DBT via PM Kisan scheme and getting Rs 6,000 per year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19718.00, down by 27.00 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 19704.20 and 19762.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.32%, Grasim Industries up by 1.13%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.01%, Indusind Bank up by 0.79% and ONGC up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.80%, Reliance Industries down by 2.13%, Eicher Motors down by 0.84%, Tata Steel down by 0.81% and JSW Steel down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 442.86 points or 1.37% to 32,747.11, KOSPI increased 20.25 points or 0.78% to 2,630.01, Jakarta Composite gained 19.76 points or 0.29% to 6,900.56, Taiwan Weighted added 12.5 points or 0.07% to 17,043.20 and Shanghai Composite was up by 2.55 points or 0.08% to 3,170.30. On the other hand, Straits Times fell 15.93 points or 0.49% to 3,262.37 and Hang Seng was down by 282.42 points or 1.48% to 18,792.84.