Benchmarks continue to trade listless in afternoon deals

In a lackluster session of trade, benchmarks continue to trade listlessly in afternoon deals in absence of any positive triggers, both from domestic as well as global front. Bit of cautious approach of the market-participants ahead of the outcome of the currently underway national elections due on May 16, is preventing any upside of the markets. Languishing at day’s low, both Sensex and Nifty are trading below the crucial 22,850 and 6850 levels respectively, with losses of close to two tenths of a percent. Meanwhile, in absence of any cues, broader indices are trading mixed at this point of time.

On the global front, Asian markets were lower on Friday, as concerns over Ukraine continued to weigh on sentiment, however Japanese stocks outperformed after the release of strong inflation data for Tokyo. The Nikkei bucked the regional declines after data showed that the March consumer-price index for the Tokyo metropolitan area rose by a preliminary 2.7% on-year-the largest gain since 1992.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE are trading positive, nevertheless top gainers include stocks from Realty, Consumer Durable and Healthcare counters. On the flip side, losses in stocks from Oil & Gas, Fast moving consumer goods and Capital Goods counters were mainly endorsing the underlying weakness of the bourses.The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1230:1141; while 116 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22836.70, down by 39.84 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 22939.31 and 22806.54. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.10%, while Small cap index down by 0.08%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.28%, Consumer Durables up by 0.87%, Healthcare up by 0.53%, Metal up by 0.48% and Bankex up by 0.39%. While, Oil and Gas down by 1.54%, FMCG down by 1.15%, Capital Goods down by 0.40%, IT down by 0.20% and Power down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 3.13%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 2.05%, BHEL up by 2.01%, HDFC up by 1.73% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.22%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.66%, HUL down by 1.65%, RIL down by 1.64%, NTPC down by 1.60% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.55% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the government has set a target of electricity generation of 1,023 billion units during the current financial year, which is about 5 percent higher than previous fiscal year target. Further, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) planned to achieve electricity generation of 252 billion units in the April-June period, while the target for each of the subsequent quarters is 257 billion units.

As per the CEA, over 368 billion units may be generated from state utilities and over 393 billion units from central utilities, while the rest will generate from private entities.  Furthermore, it estimates that around 859 billion units of electricity will be generated by thermal power projects during 2014-15 out of which 784 billion units are expected to come from coal-based stations and the remaining 75 billion units from fuels such as diesel, lignite, naphtha and natural gas. However, target for hydel generation has been lowered to 124 billion units in current fiscal from 135 billion units in 2013-14. India produced 967 billion units of power during FY14, lower than the target of 975 billion units.

Electricity in India is produced with the use of coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Acute coal shortages in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country as coal-fired plants account for 68% of India's installed electricity capacity. India’s gas based installed capacity stands at nearly 8 percent at 20,000 MW of which around 6,000 MW is currently stranded because of unavailability of natural gas.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,822.90, down by 17.90 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 6,869.85 and 6,818.00. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 3.08%, DLF up by 2.89%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 2.11%, BHEL up by 1.87% and Jindal Steel up by 1.87. On the flip side, Cairn down by 4.94%, Ambuja Cement down by 4.05%, ACC down by 3.72%, BPCL down by 3.06% and Ultratech Cement down by 3.01%% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng plunged 1.24%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.63%, Straits Times dropped 0.41% and Taiwan Weighted plummeted 1.92%. While, Nikkei 225 added 0.17% and Jakarta Composite advanced 0.39%.