Benchmarks continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision for directional cues. Traders remained cautious with a private report that the recent rise in inflation has prompted Indian investors to push back rate cut expectations by at least a quarter to the middle of 2024, with a sustained rise in prices likely to prompt a further repricing. Some concern also came with a private report stated that Indian fintech start-ups raised a total of $1.4 billion in the first half (H1) of 2023, a massive year-on-year (YoY) drop of 67 per cent from $4.3 billion raised in the same period last year. Meanwhile, CBDT chairperson Nitin Gupta has said that more than four crore income tax returns (ITRs) for the financial year 2022-23 have been filed so far and about 7 per cent of these are new or first-time filers. He said that more than half of these ITRs have been processed leading to 80 lakh refunds till now. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react positively the China's Politburo decision to further support its ailing property sector with an economic stimulus.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66329.63, down by 55.15 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 66293.81 and 66559.29. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.81%, Utilities up by 1.76%, Power up by 1.38%, Realty up by 0.83% and Telecom up by 0.74%, while FMCG down by 1.19%, IT down by 0.30%, Capital Goods down by 0.19%, TECK down by 0.19% and Bankex down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 2.42%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.03%, Tata Steel up by 1.95%, NTPC up by 1.66% and Tata Motors up by 1.60%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.78%, Asian Paints down by 1.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.96%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.90% and Axis Bank down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said there is no proposal to extend the deadline for the exchange of Rs 2,000 notes beyond September 30, 2023. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said at present, this matter is not under consideration. The Reserve Bank, in a surprise move, on May 19 announced withdrawal of Rs 2,000 notes from circulation but gave public time till September 30 to either deposit such notes in accounts or exchange them at banks. According to the RBI, as much as 76 per cent of the Rs 2,000 currency notes in circulation have either been deposited or exchanged at banks.

In value terms, Rs 2,000 notes in circulation have come down to Rs 84,000 crore as on June 30 from Rs 3.56 lakh crore on the day of the announcement of withdrawal on May 19. RBI said 87 per cent of the notes returned have been deposited in bank accounts by public while the remaining 13 per cent were exchanged by them in other denominations.

Further, the minister said that according to RBI, the withdrawal was a currency management operation planned to avoid any inconvenience to public or any disruption in the economy. Withdrawal of Rs 2000 banknotes has been factored in, in the current year's requirement and sufficient buffer stock of banknotes in other denominations is being maintained across the country to meet exchange / withdrawal requirements.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19668.20, down by 4.15 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 19657.80 and 19729.35. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 2.32%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.07%, Tata Steel up by 1.90%, Hindalco up by 1.86% and NTPC up by 1.76%. On the flip side, ITC down by 3.15%, Asian Paints down by 1.85%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.54%, Britannia Industries down by 1.19% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 217.54 points or 1.28% to 17,251.15, Hang Seng advanced 590.51 points or 3.07% to 19,258.66, Shanghai Composite strengthened 59.73 points or 1.85% to 3,223.89, KOSPI increased 0.85 points or 0.03% to 2,629.38, Jakarta Composite gained 16.15 points or 0.23% to 6,915.55 and Straits Times rose 8.79 points or 0.27% to 3,273.93.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 97.72 points or 0.3% to 32,603.22.