Sensex Finishes Flat; Pharma & FMCG Stocks Fall

Indian share markets continued to swing between gains and losses in the afternoon session as market participants booked profit in recent outperformers.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 12 points, while the NSE Nifty finished down by 2 points. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Mid Cap & the S&P BSE Small Cap finished down by 0.3% and 0.1% respectively. Losses were largely seen in pharma stocks, auto stocks and FMCG stocks.

Asian stock markets finished broadly lower today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is down 1.53% while China’s Shanghai Composite is off 0.41% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 is lower by 0.12%. European markets are lower today with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 is down 0.19% while Germany’s DAX is off 0.18% and London’s FTSE 100 is lower by 0.07%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.81 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 46.95 at the time of writing.

To increase foreign capital inflows in the country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the foreign portfolio investor (FPI) investment limit in Central Government Securities (G-secs) as well as in State Development Loans (SDLs) for the quarter July-September 2017, which will be effective from July 4, 2017.

According to the RBI’s notification, the limit for investment by FPIs in G-secs will move up to Rs 2,420 billion from earlier Rs 2,310 billion, while in SDLs, the limit will go up to Rs 331 billion from Rs 270 billion. Hence, the total limit for FPIs will increase to Rs 2,751 billion from Rs 2,580 billion.

Besides, future increases in the limit for FPI investment in G-secs will be allocated in the ratio of 75% for long-term category of FPIs & 25% for general category.

As per the RBI notification, the central bank has done away with the practice of transferring unutilised limits of long-term category to general category of FPIs. The revised limit comes into force as per RBI’s review of the medium-term framework with relation to investment of FPIs in government securities.