Sensex, Nifty trading flat amid volatile trade

Following a positive opening, Indian equity markets erased early gains and trading flat in the late morning session on Tuesday amid stock specific movements. Sensex was trading up by 0.17 points, while Nifty trading lower by 11.95 points. Firm trend in global markets, some upbeat results from Indian companies and expectations of a rate cut from the central bank following a sharp decline in wholesale price inflation, are all restricting markets losses. Meanwhile, parliament was adjourned today till noon without transacting any business as BJP members walked into the Well to demand Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over coal issue, also dampened the market sentiments. In currency market, Indian rupee appreciated against greenback amid fresh selling of the US currency by exporters. On the sectoral front, FMCG stocks, led by Hindustan Unilever, continued to trade higher, on the back of upbeat quarterly report, while oil, realty, capital goods and PSU stocks were trading in red.

On the global front, most Asian markets rose on Tuesday, amid expectations of pro-growth monetary policies from global central banks, while Japan disappointed with weak industrial production and subdued retail sales in March. Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 1,023 shares on the losing side against 847 shares on the gaining side, while 126 shares remains unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,387.67, up by 0.17 points after trading in a range of 19,622.68 and 19,353.33. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.27% and Small cap index was down by 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 4.59% and Health Care up by 0.49%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.85%, Realty down by 1.40%, Capital Goods up by 1.39%, PSU down by 1.27% and Consumer Durables down by 1.06% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 16.66%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.78%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.53%, ITC up by 1.43% and Sun Pharma up by 1.11%.

On the flip side, ONGC was down by 2.89%, Hindalco was down by 2.13%, L&T was down by 2.12%,  Reliance was down by 1.59%, and BHEL was down by 1.36% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an industry managed organization in India, has said that the reforms in governance as well as innovation across businesses are needed to bring back the slowdown-hit economy to higher growth rate trajectory. The CII President Kris Gopalakrishnan has said that Indian economy could achieve 6.5 per cent growth this fiscal and could go up to a level of 8-9 per cent in next two to three years if the Government is able to carry on with reforms and companies continue to innovate. In order to boost domestic investments, the CII President said that there is room for rate cuts and the RBI must consider a 50 basis points cut in the next two months and then a 100 basis points cut over the next 12 months. 

By adding further, he said that the Government needs to revive stalled projects, especially in the infrastructure sector. He said that there is an urgent need to focus on many arenas for transformation of sectors in order to accelerate the economic growth such as reforms and governance, inclusive growth and affirmative action, innovation entrepreneurship and growth of MSMEs. For agriculture sector, he suggested reforms to incentivize implementation of the Model APMC Act. Further adding he said that innovation should increase in the private sector through investment in R&D.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,892.15 down by 11.95 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 5,962.30 and 5,880.05. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 16.89%, Dr Reddy up by 1.63%, ITC up by 1.39%, Sun Pharma up by 1.27% and Jindal Steel up by 1.08%.

On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.36%, Reliance Infra down by 3.11%, IDFC down by 2.81%, ONGC down by 2.74% and Hindalco down by 2.23% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in Green; Hang Seng rose 0.92%, KLSE Composite increased 0.06%, Straits Times surged 0.61%, KOSPI Composite soared 1.20% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.80%.

Jakarta Composite declined 0.28% and Nikkei 225 was down by 0.17%.

Mainland Chinese markets remained shut for a holiday.