After opening the day on a flattish note, the Indian stock markets witnessed choppy a trading session and currently trading close to the dotted line. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks from the telecom and capital goods sectors leading the losses.
The BSE Sensex is trading down by 11 points (down 0.04%) and the NSE Nifty is trading down by 4 points (down 0.1%). The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are also trading in the red, down by 0.4% and 0.6% respectively. The rupee is trading at 67.71 to the US$.
A report by State Bank of India (SBI) highlighted that credit growth in India is unlikely to revive materially in near term as demand conditions are still acting as a drag. The report offered that it is too early and premature to conclude about the credit growth picking up in the country.
During the fiscal 2015-16, credit growth witnessed some improvement and stood at 11.3% as on March 18, 2016. However, come April 29 this year, credit off-take declined to 9.2%.
The report also stated that the supposed correlation between balance sheet cleaning and credit growth picking up will only happen once the growth cycle picks up significantly.
To aid credit growth, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut interest rates by 1.5% so far. However, the transmission of rates by banks has been much lower. Hopefully, with the marginal cost of funds based lending rate that came into effect from April 2016, banks are now in a better position to pass on the rate-cuts. However, more than this, the revival in the broad economy will play a key role in bringing about a more sustainable recovery in credit demand.
Engineering stocks are trading on a mixed note with Welspun Corp and Jyoti Structure leading the losses. In another news update it was reported that L&T Infotech, an arm of engineering giant Larsen and Toubro (L&T), has received approval from the SEBI for its proposed initial public offering (IPO).
The company had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in April. SEBI approved its final observations on the draft offer documents on May 20, which is necessary for any company to launch a public offer.
The company's IPO comprises an offer-for-sale of up to 17,500,000 equity shares of the subsidiary by L&T. The issue is being managed by Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Citigroup Global Markets India and ICICI Securities.
Larsen & Toubro is a major technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services conglomerate, with global operations. The company addresses critical needs in key sectors - Hydrocarbon, Infrastructure, Power, Process Industries and Defense - for customers in over 30 countries around the world. To get more idea on the business and financials of the company, you can read our issue of ValuePro Contenders titled How Can This Company 'Engineer' An Entry into the Portfolios? (subscription required).
Presently the stock of L&T is trading down by 1%.
For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!
Read the latest Market Commentary
Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Indices Witness Choppy Trading". Click here!
Comments are moderated by Equitymaster, in accordance with the Terms of Use, and may not appear
on this article until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.
In the meantime, you may want to share this article with your friends!