Markets trade flat in early deals on Wednesday

Indian equity benchmarks are trading flat in early deals on Wednesday as investors remained little cautious ahead of ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy review on April 1. Sentiments also remained dampened after investors offloaded positions in software pack as sector major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) reportedly expects growth in Q4 March 2014 to be subdued. On the flip side, Infra stocks remained on buyers’ radar, as the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that efforts to revive infrastructure investment would help in reverting to 8 percent growth in next three years. Meanwhile, the PSU oil marketing companies were trading higher on report that the loss on sales of diesel has been trimmed by more than Re 1 to Rs 7.16 per litre on the back of softening international oil rates.

On the global front, the US markets snapped the last session with good gains, as housing data bolstered confidence in the economy and in a positive reaction to comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin who said that he does not plan to seize any other regions of Ukraine following the annexation of Crimea. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the red awaiting the Federal Reserve’s policy statement.

Back home, on the sectoral front, metal, banking and power witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software and technology remained the only losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1019 shares on the gaining side against 599 shares on the losing side while 92 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21872.68; about 40 points higher compared to its previous closing of 21832.61, and touched a high and a low of 21893.42 and 21795.94 respectively. The index is currently trading at 21834.12, up by 1.51 points or 0.01%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 59.59% stocks advancing against 35.03% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.30% and Small cap gained 0.41%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.63%, Bankex up by 0.94%, Power up by 0.79%, Capital Goods up by 0.62% and Auto up by 0.49%, while IT down by 3.25% and Teck down by 2.59% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.96%, Axis Bank up by 2.69%, Tata Steel up by 2.42%, HDFC up by 1.59% and SSLT up by 1.54%. On the flip side, TCS was down by 4.87%, Infosys was down by 2.99%, Wipro was down by 1.36%, ONGC was down by 1.25% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 0.53% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN), the registered body of micro-finance companies, has sought for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to become the first self-regulatory organisation (SRO) for microfinance institutions. Besides filing a formal application, the MFIN has also completed necessary structural changes in its management.  The association has inducted three independent directors on the board and by June, the association would have 12 board directors including four independent directors. Further, MFIN has put in place all necessary requirements according to the norms.

Last month, the RBI released guidelines to recognize industry associations as self-regulatory organisations (SROs) of non-banking financial companies that are engaged in micro finance (NBFC-MFIs) based on the recommendations made by the Y H Malegam committee. The Malegam panel was set up by the apex bank to look into regulatory aspects of micro-lending following the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis of 2010.

The central bank, in its notification, had stated that in order to become an SRO, the association will have to adhere to a set of functions and responsibilities such as formulating and administering a code of conduct, ensuring borrower protection, having a grievance and dispute redressal mechanism for clients, monitoring compliance by NBFC-MFIs with the regulatory framework, and submission of its financials and annual report among others. RBI further notified that an industry body should have independent directors comprising at least a third of its board, and representation of both small and large micro-lenders on the governing council. 

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,530.00; about 13 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,516.65, and has touched a high and a low of 6,534.75 and 6,506.00 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,525.10, up by 8.45 points or 0.13%. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.90%, Hindalco up by 2.74%, Tata Steel up by 2.44%, HDFC up by 1.60% and ICICI Bank up by 1.47%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.85%, Infosys down by 2.99%, HCL Tech down by 2.14%, Wipro down by 1.49% and ONGC down by 1.11% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite slipped by 18.99 points or 0.94% to 2,006.20, Hang Seng declined 50.62 points or 0.23% to 21,532.88, KLSE Composite contracted 2.68 points or 0.15% to 1,818.02, Nikkei 225 crumbled by 64.03 points or 0.44% to 14,347.24, Straits Times declined by 19.96 points or 0.65% to 3,073.88, KOSPI Composite dropped by 2.87 points or 0.15% to 1,937.34 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 38.45 points or 0.44% to 8,693.49.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 21.28 points or 0.44% to 4,826.89.