Market trades on a flat note

Key benchmark indices were almost flat in early trade. At 9:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 8.85 points or 0.03% at 33,167.15. The Nifty 50 index was up 2.80 points or 0.03% at 10,197.95.

Among secondary barometers,the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.12%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.15%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 710 shares rose and 586 shares fell. A total of 51 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, most Asian stocks were trading lower as caution gripped investors ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the week. US stocks ended modestly higher on Friday, 16 March 2018, with the S&P 500 breaking a four-day losing streak.

US industrial production jumped 1.1% in February, the largest increase in four months. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said housing starts declined 7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.236 million units in February. Further, the University of Michigan consumer-sentiment index rose to 102 in March from 99.7 in February.

The US Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting is scheduled on March 20-21. Strengthening labor market and a steady increase in price pressures could pave the way for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in upcoming meeting. The US central bank has forecast three rate increases for this year, but there are also expectations that it will raise its projection to four hikes at the meeting.

Yes Bank was up 0.67%. The bank said that its Capital Raising Committee (CRC) would consider a potential issuance of second tranche of Notes under the Medium Term Note Programme of the bank, within the limits permitted by regulatory authorities, on or after 21 March 2018. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 March 2018.

It may be recalled that Yes Bank had informed in November 2017 that the CRC of the board of directors of the bank had approved the setting up of the Medium Term Note Programme of the bank aggregating to an amount of $1 billion, out of which $600 million has already been drawn in the first tranche.

Axis Bank was down 0.09%. The bank said it has reviewed and retained the marginal cost of funds based lending rates (MCLRs) across all tenors effective from 17 March 2018. The bank's MCLRs vary between 7.85% and 8.5% ranging from overnight to three-year tenors. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 March 2018.

Grasim Industries was up 0.16%. The company said that the production capacity of Epoxy Resin, Reactive Diluents and Hardeners at company's Epoxy Plant at Vilayat ( Gujarat) has increased from 82,350 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 1,23,097 MT per annum through de-bottlenecking process. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 16 March 2018.

NBCC (India) was up 1.42%. The company said it has secured the total business of Rs 242 crore in February 2018. The announcement was made on Saturday, 17 March 2018.

D B Realty was down 2.17%. The company said that its wholly owned subsidiary Real Gem Buildtech arrived at an arrangement with and entered into a development management agreement with Kingmaker Developers, a Group of Rustomjee (a subsidiary of Keystone Realtors) for the development management of real estate project at DB Crown, Situated at Gokhale Road, Prabhadevi, Mumbai. The arrangement is subject to approval of the lender, who has extended financial facilities for the execution of the project, the company said. The announcement was made on Sunday, 18 March 2018.

On the macro front, India's current account deficit (CAD) was reported at $13.5 billion (2% of GDP) in Q3 of 2017-18, up from $8 billion (1.4% of GDP) in Q3 of 2016-17 and $7.2 billion (1.1% of GDP) in the preceding quarter. The widening of the CAD on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit ($44.1 billion) brought about by a larger increase in merchandise imports relative to exports.

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