Markets extends losses; trade near intra-day low level

Indian bourses added losses to continue weak trade in the late afternoon session hovering near the lowest point of the day on account of selling witnessed in front line blue chip stocks as the Budget announcements failed to enthuse investor sentiment. All sectoral indices were trading in negative territory with consumer durable as the top losing index down by around 2.56% followed by power and capital goods indices both trading down by over 1.80%. Sell-off also continued in the broader markets with both the mid and small cap indices trading down by over 1.30%. The government during budget has announced to contain fiscal deficit at 4.1% of GDP and there will be no changes in retrospective tax. Selling was also witnessed in banking and auto stocks. Auto players are eyeing the implementation of GST to streamline and standardise the cost of selling cars. Railway-related stocks continue to trade in red ever since the government presented railway budget on July 8, 2014.

FMCG major ITC was trading down by around 0.52% to Rs 332 amid fears that the government can raise tax on cigarettes in the Budget to deter people from smoking. On the other hand, Shares in Polychem, extending its past four days rally, has surged 10% to Rs 636 as Polychem reported better than expected profit for Q4FY14.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Hang Seng up by 0.26% and Straits Times up by 0.24% as the Federal Reserve indicated that it was not in a hurry to end the quantitative easing and begin hiking rates. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 7,600 and 25,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,491 stocks traded, 791 stocks advanced, while 1,616 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25,240.53 down by 204.28 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 25,613.72 and 25,235.07. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.32%, while Small cap index down by 1.38%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables down by 2.56%, Power down by 2.16%, Capital Goods down by 1.84%, Bankex down by 1.37% and Oil and Gas down by 1.06%. There were no gaining indices on BSE.    

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.12%, HDFC up by 0.61%, Wipro up by 0.58%, Sun Pharma up by 0.44% and Tata Motors up by 0.15%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 3.12%, NTPC down by 2.49%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.37%, Cipla down by 2.09% and L&T down by 2.05% were the top losers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved four- and six-laning of highways in five states. Total cost of these projects would be about Rs 13,987 crore and will cover length over 676 kilometres in states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Project wise, the 95.38-km long four laninig project in Ambala-Kaithal section of NH 65 in Haryana will be undertaken at a cost of about Rs 1,176.48 crore. Likewise, four-laning of Yadgiri-Warangal section of NH 163 project in Andhra Pradesh will be done. After the completion of this phase, the Hyderabad and Warangal stretch covering a total length of 99.10 km will be developed into four-lane at a cost of around Rs 1,487.95 crore. Further, four-laning of Sultanpur-Varanasi section of NH 56 in Uttar Pradesh, spreading over 146.22 km, will also be completed at a cost of about Rs 1,975.83 crore. The CCEA also approved development of 26.79 km long four-laning of the Kazahakkottum-Mukkola section of National Highway (NH) 47 in Kerala at an approximate cost of Rs 587.49 crore. It also approved four-laning of 159.30-km long Bikaner-Falodi section of NH 15 in Rajasthan at an estimated cost of Rs 903.40 crore.

Further, construction of connected roads having length 150.14 km would be undertaken on Delhi-Meerut expressway. Total cost of the project would be around 7,855.87 crore and will develop six- to eight-laning of NH 24 (Hapur bypass), six laning of NH 58 (Delhi-UP border) and six-laning of NH 235 (Delhi-UP).

India needs widespread highway infrastructure to prevent the sector from becoming hurdle to its economic growth. During FY14, the NHAI has managed to award around 2,000 km of road projects as against the set target of 9,000 km, while in FY13 only 1,116 km of projects were awarded against a target of 9,500 km. Financial constraints, delay in land acquisition and environmental clearances and lack of project planning are the leading factors impacting road infrastructure development in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,526.10 down by 58.90 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 7,626.85 and 7,513.55. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Infosys up by 1.10%, DLF up by 0.96%, HDFC up by 0.45%, Tata Motors up by 0.39% and Wipro up by 0.38%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 2.90%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.84%, Power Grid down by 2.72%, BPCL down by 2.60% and NTPC down by 2.36% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.26% to 23,236.45, Straits Times up by 0.24% to 3,283.18, Shanghai Composite up by 0.13% to 2,040.94, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.79% to 9,565.12, Jakarta Stock Index up by 2.04% to 5,127.21. While, Nikkei 225 down by 0.51% to 15,224.09