The Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat with a negative bias in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling up positions in Bankex, IT and TECK sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, Telecom and Oil & Gas sectors’ stocks. Traders overlooked report that country’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $9.427 billion to record high of $ 620.576 billion in the week ended July 30. In the previous week ended July 23, the reserves had declined by $ 1.581 billion to $ 611.149 billion. Traders took note of report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually transferred about Rs 19,500 crore to over 9.75 crore beneficiaries farmers under the government’s PM-KISAN scheme. With this, the government has so far transferred nine instalments amounting around Rs 1.57 lakh crore to farmer families under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after an upbeat U.S. jobs report lifted bond yields and the dollar. Investors now await the July (inflation) indicators and the Jackson Hole meeting for additional clues to the Fed's thinking on inflation, employment and the interest-rate outlook. European markets were trading lower as a fall in commodity prices weighed on UK’s blue-chip index, while other regional indexes stayed near their recent highs with earnings season winding down.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54,269.48, down by 8.24 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 54124.27 and 54584.73. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.90%.
The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.32%, IT up by 0.25% and TECK was up by 0.14%, while Metal down by 1.46%, Oil & Gas down by 1.35%, Telecom down by 1.32%, Utilities down by 1.13% and PSU was down by 1.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.80%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.68%, Axis Bank up by 1.40%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.22% and Indusind Bank up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.51%, HDFC down by 1.07%, Tata Steel down by 1.04%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.01% and Reliance Industries down by 0.81% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, in an effort towards ease of doing business and further promoting private sector participation in transmission sector, Ministry of Power has released the revised Standard Bid Documents (SBDs), containing Request for Proposal (RfP) and Transmission Service Agreement (TSA) for award of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) Projects on Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB).
The Ministry of Power is committed towards Public Private Partnership (PPP) in different spheres of power sector. Transmission is the most vital link in the power sector value chain connecting Generation and Distribution. Revision of SBDs for award of ISTS project on TBCB would enhance PPP in transmission sector and would attract more private investment in Transmission Sector.
In line with National Tariff Policy 2016 notified by the Central Government, ISTS system is developed through TBCB, except for certain category of ISTS system, which are strategic, technical-upgradation or time-bound in nature.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16,224.90, down by 13.30 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 16179.05 and 16320.75. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.88%, Axis Bank up by 1.63%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.46% and Indusind Bank up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer down by 1.84%, Hindalco down by 1.74%, Coal India down by 1.68%, ONGC down by 1.50% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.50% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 104.00 points or 0.4% to 26,283.40 and Shanghai Composite was up by 36.40 points or 1.05% to 3,494.63. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 9.94 points or 0.3% to 3,260.42, Taiwan Weighted dropped 41.13 points or 0.23% to 17,485.15 and Jakarta Composite was down by 75.97 points or 1.22% to 6,127.46.
European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 25.11 points or 0.35% to 7,097.84, France’s CAC decreased 0.73 points or 0.01% to 6,816.23 and Germany’s DAX was down by 20.42 points or 0.13% to 15,741.03.