Benchmarks trim losses; Nifty above 7100 mark

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed losses and continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session. The sentiments were on weak note on account of profit-taking after a record setting rally that saw the benchmark indices register successive all-time highs over the last three sessions. Overseas investors have bought cash shares and index futures worth $1.06 billion in the three sessions. Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Metal and PSU stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and Auto sector stocks. Hectic activity was witnessed in shares of state-run banks after the Reserve Bank of India panel report stated that the government should reduce holdings in PSU lenders to under 50%. In scrip specific development, SKS Microfinance was trading in green following reports that SKS Trust Advisors, the original promoter of the firm, is planning to exit the company. Bank of Baroda was trading firm after the lender’s quarterly earnings beat estimates.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets traded on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 7,150 and 23,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1490:1276 while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23810.20, down by 61.03 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 23964.67 and 23753.36. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.93%, while Small cap index up by 1.12%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.44%, Metal up by 2.22%, PSU up by 1.09%, Consumer Durables up by 0.66%, and FMCG up by 0.48%.

On the flip side, Oil & Gas down by 0.81%, Capital Goods down by 0.53%, Auto down by 0.29%, IT down by 0.22% and HealthCare down by 0.09% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 4.94%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.72%, Coal India up by 1.73%, NTPC up by 1.42% and Cipla up by 1.18%.

On the flip side, M&M down by 3.46%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.94%, HDFC down by 1.81%, BHEL down by 1.46% and Reliance Industries down by 1.33% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India is likely to overtake Japan to become the world's third largest oil consumer behind the US and China by 2025, according to the report of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The US EIA, in its Annual Energy Outlook report highlighted that India's oil consumption is expected to rise from 3.68 million barrels per day (173.5 million tonnes) in 2012 to 5.19 million bpd in 2025, overtaking Japan's 4.38 million bpd consumption. 

The report further added that during the period 2012-2040, India's oil consumption growth rate will be highest in the world with around 3 percent compounded annual growth rate to 8.33 million bpd in 2040. On global front, the US EIA report highlighted that China's oil consumption is projected to rise from 10.36 million barrels per day in 2012 to 15.70 million bpd in 2025 and 20.48 million bpd in 2040, posting a compounded annual growth rate of 2.5 percent during 2012-2040. The US will continue to be the world's biggest oil consumer but with almost no demand growth. The US consumed 18.21 million bpd of oil in 2012 which is projected to increase 18.97 million bpd in 2025 and to 18.42 million bpd in 2040. Japan consumed 4.75 million bpd of oil in 2012.

India currently is the fourth largest oil consumer in the world behind the US, China and Japan, and imports around 80 percent of its oil needs. In the previous year 2013, India had overtaken Japan as the world's third-biggest crude oil importer. It imported 3.86 million bpd of crude oil in 2013, nearly 6 percent higher than Japan's customs-cleared imports of 3,648,372 bpd. The US EIA report estimates that India will become the world's largest oil importer by 2020.

The Government of India (GoI) has formulated a roadmap for cutting India's dependence on imports to meet its oil needs. The Government wants country’s oil imports dependence to be cut to 50 percent by 2020 and by 25 percent in 2025 through intensive exploration and exploitation of untapped reserves. Presently, only 0.93 million sq km area in India is held under exploration and production in 19 basins as compared to total estimated sedimentary area of 3.14 million square kilometres, comprising 26 sedimentary basins.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,108.30, down by 0.45 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 7,142.25 and 7,080.90. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 8.22%, Tata Steel up by 5.08%, Jindal Steel up by 4.34%, NMDC up 4.18% and DLF up by 4.17%.

On the flip side, M&M down by 3.89%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.84%, HCL Tech down by 1.95%, HDFC down by 1.74% and Reliance Industries down by 1.41% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng spurted 1.03%, Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.65%, Straits Times surged 1.12% and Jakarta Composite gained 0.93% while, Shanghai Composite down by 0.14% was the sole loser on the index.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was down by 0.17%, Germany’s DAX added 0.04% and UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.17%.