Sensex trades lower, Nifty falls below 8,400; RIL sheds around 3%

BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices registered an uptick of 0.03%, and 0.4%, respectively

Benchmark indices pared opening gains to turn negative as IMF cut India’s GDP forecast to 6.6% from the previous 7.6%. The sentiment was also affected as dual-control issue was resolved in the GST Council meet yesterday and all agreed on July 1 as its date of implementation.
 
Global investors also await UK PM Theresa May's Brexit speech. According to reports, she will lay out plan to exit the European Union that would see Britain lose access to the bloc's single market.
 
At 12:30 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 27,222 down 65 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 8,390, down 22 points.
 
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices registered an uptick of 0.2%, and 0.5%, respectively.

"Nifty could witness termination near this resistance zone of 8,400-8,450 & a corrective wave could follow in the coming week. Hence we recommend reducing leveraged longs & deploying adequate hedge for a while," said Sacchitanand Uttekar, Equity Technical Analyst  & PFA at Motilal Oswal Securities in a note.
 
On Monday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 347.25 crore, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 203.45 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.
 
Sectors and Stocks

HUL, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and NTPC were the top gainers on Sensex while RIL, Coal India, GAIL and Adani Ports fell during early morning trade.
 
Reliance Industries fell around 3% after the company reported below expectations earning report.  It announced a 3.6% rise in its net profit in December quarter. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,506 crore against Rs 7,245 crore in the same period a year ago.

Fortis Healthcare fell over 2% in an otherwise positive marktet after Daiichi Sankyo moved an application in Delhi High Court to block former Ranbaxy Lab promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh from selling their stake in Fortis Healthcare, marking a new twist in the Rs 2,500 crore arbitration case. 

Delta corp rose 2% after reports that the company has received a licence for operations of a casino in Gangtok, Sikkim. 
 
GST set for July 1 roll-out, dual control hurdle over

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Monday broke a deadlock over the seemingly intractable issue of tax administration over assessees and broadly agreed to roll out the GST from July 1, instead of the earlier deadline of April 1. 

The Centre agreed the states would have the powers to administer 90 per cent of assessees with an annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore. The Centre will have the powers to audit, send notices and scrutinise the remaining 10 per cent. Only West Bengal’s Amit Mitra did not agree, Jaitley said. Mitra later told reporters this agreement pertained to services only. 

IMF cuts India’s GDP forecast
 
IMF has cut India’s GDP forecast to 6.6% for 2016 from its earlier estimate of 7.6% citing demonetisation’s effect on consumption and payments. If the projection holds true, the fastest growing large economy in the world would be China, estimated to grow 6.7% in 2016.
 
This comes after World Bank, last week, slashed India growth projection by 0.6 percentage points to 7% for the year, a shade lower than government’s 7.1% estimate.
 
For 2017, IMF projected a growth rate of 7.2% as against its previous forecast of 7.6%. The Indian economy is likely to revive to go back to its previously estimated growth rate of 7.7% in 2018, according to the World Economic Outlook update.

 
Global Markets
 
Asian stocks and the pound sagged on Tuesday as investors waited for British Prime Minister Theresa May to lay out plans to exit the European Union, which traders fear will see Britain lose access to the bloc's single market.
 
Britain will not seek a Brexit deal that leaves it "half in, half out" of the EU, May will say later in the day, according to her office, in a speech setting out her 12 priorities for upcoming divorce talks with the bloc.
 
US stock futures dipped 0.3%. Wall Street was closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Day.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.1%, while Japan's Nikkei brushed a five-week low and was last down 0.4%.
 
(With inputs from Reuters)