Benchmarks continue to trade flat in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in late morning deals amid a fall in Asian peers and as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of key economic indicators like retail inflation and factory production data as well as corporate earnings of IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro later this week. Some concern also came with report stating that the weighted average rates of state debt continued to remain at an over two-year high of 7.72 per cent at the second weekly auction of the quarter on Tuesday, making it the highest so far this fiscal. However, traders took some support as the World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects report retained India’s economic growth forecast at 6.3% for the current financial year (FY24). It said India is anticipated to maintain the fastest growth rate among the world’s largest economies, but its post-pandemic recovery is expected to slow. It added that growth is then expected to recover gradually, edging up to 6.4% in FY2024-25 and 6.5 percent in FY2025-26. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as traders focusing on the crucial US inflation report later in the week, which could shed light on the Federal Reserve's rate cut timing.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71404.58, up by 18.37 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 71110.98 and 71498.83. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.50%, TECK up by 0.48%, Consumer Durables up by 0.47%, Bankex up by 0.18% and Power up by 0.15%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.08%, Realty down by 1.01%, PSU down by 0.93%, Energy down by 0.85% and Metal down by 0.57% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.38%, ICICI Bank up by 0.91%, TCS up by 0.81%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.76% and Indusind Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.20%, ITC down by 0.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.58%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.57% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to provide greater market access to domestic goods, the commerce ministry has set up a task force to identify and resolve trade barriers being faced by exporters in other countries.

The development assumes significance as many times India's exports suffer from these barriers such as time taking prior registration requirements and unreasonable domestic standards/rules in many countries.

The ministry is also looking at improving mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with different countries so that product standards are as per the requirements of the importing countries. Standards for goods and services should help in promoting global trade and not act as non-tariff barriers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21555.70, up by 10.85 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 21448.65 and 21573.90. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.68%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.36%, Cipla up by 1.80%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.71% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.44%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.29%, NTPC down by 2.22%, ONGC down by 2.17%, Eicher Motors down by 1.51% and Coal India down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 49.71 points or 0.28% to 17,485.78, Hang Seng declined 67.35 points or 0.42% to 16,122.67, Straits Times fell 32.08 points or 1.01% to 3,165.88, KOSPI dropped 19.42 points or 0.76% to 2,541.82 and Shanghai Composite weakened 6.07 points or 0.21% to 2,887.18.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 50.2 points or 0.69% to 7,250.40 and Nikkei 225 surged 727.09 points or 2.11% to 34,490.27.