Asian peers weigh on markets, await RBI policy

Markets remain in the negative territory, with the Sensex down 51 points at 18,258 and Nifty trading lower by 15 points, at 5,486.

Markets opened in the red this morning on the back of lackluster Asian peers. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.2% as banks battled with the reserve requirement hike. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%. But, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1% helped by energy shares.

Currently, the market is waiting for the credit policy announcement on Thursday to know the way forward for interest rates. Economists expect 25 bps rate hike as inflation for the month of May continued to remain stubbornly high at around 9.1%.

Destimoney Securities expects Nifty trade between 5,480 and 5,550. “Nifty has taken support at 5,460-5,475 spot and if it stabilises above 5,520, uptrend can continue till 5,580,” said its report.

Infosys (down 1.25%) pulled down Sensex by 22 points. ICICI Bank, SBI, L&T, Sterlite, BHEL, Jindal Steel are other notable losers (down 0.5-1%) on the benchmark indices.

Oil & Gas, FMCG and healthcare indices are in the green, up marginally. Bankex is the biggest loser, down 0.6%. It is followed by capital goods, metal and consumer durables indices.

Yes Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are the biggest loser in the banking space, down over 1%. Sterlite and Jindal Saw pulled down the metal pack, both stocks are down 1.5%. Whirlpool (down almost 3%) and Titan (down 1.5%) led the losers in consumer durables.

Market breadth is positive with 1,183 stocks advancing and 892 declining on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Broader markets are mixed with the CNX Midcap Index down marginally (four points) and BSE Small Cap up 18 points.

Other stocks in news were Maruti Suzuki, down 0.5%, as the standoff with Manesar Union continues. The auto maker has suffered huge losses due to the strike which lasted for 11 day.
HPCL is up almost 0.5% as the company is going to create an arm to hold its exploration and production (E&P) assets.

Dr Reddy’s is down 0.3% after the company's Mexican arm received a warning letter from the US FDA. The stock dropped to a low of Rs 1,520 in opening trades today.