Markets extend early losses, trade near intra-day low level

Indian equity benchmarks extended early losses and were trading near intra-day low level in afternoon session on the emergence of fresh selling pressure in realty, metal and oil & gas stocks. Further, profit booking in front line blue chip stocks also dragged the major indices lower and most of the major sectoral indices were trading in red. Selling was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices trading down by over 0.20%. Lower  than expected earnings of major companies for Q1 FY15, slow progress of monsoon and geopolitical concerns weighed on sentiments. Traders also opted to stay away from buying risky assets ahead of July F&O expiry this week. However, investors were seen piling up positions in consumer durables and power stocks.

Scrip specific movement, Central Bank of India has surged around 9% to Rs 73.15 after reporting a nine-fold rise in net profit at Rs 192 crore in Q1 FY15, aided by a drop in provisions for bad loans and increase in net interest income. Gujarat Pipavav Port has surged around 5% to Rs 151, extending its Friday’s 9% rally, after reporting a better-than-expected 128% yoy jump in net profit at Rs 80.50 crore for Q1 FY15 due to strong revenue and operational performance.

On global front, most of Asian equity indices were trading in green with Hang Seng up by 0.96% and Shanghai Composite up by 2.25% as investors await data on US services ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting this week. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 7,750 and 26,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negating, out of 2,425 stocks traded, 972 stocks advanced, while 1,366 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25,977.60 down by 149.15 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 26,181.83 and 25,967.25. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.27%, while Small cap index down by 0.57%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.37%, Power up by 0.11% and Auto up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Realty down by 1.64%, Metal down by 1.31%, Oil and Gas down by 0.94%, FMCG down by 0.49% and Healthcare down by 0.23% were the losing indices on the BSE

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.74%, BHEL up by 1.28%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 0.78%, M&M up by 0.50% and SBI up by 0.48%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.14%, HDFC down by 1.64%, RIL down by 1.55%, TCS down by 1.34% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.24% were the top losers on the BSE. 

Meanwhile, in order to boost the infrastructure development in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with secretaries of nine core infrastructure ministries to set targets for FY15 and identify key projects in sectors like road, power and railways. The eight industries - crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilisers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel - have a weight of 37.9% in the overall Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Besides, top officials from Environment and Forest Ministry and Rural Development Ministry also attended the meeting.

It is reported that the Planning Commission had made a detailed presentation on the performance of core infrastructure in the previous fiscal year and deliberated on the targets suggested by the ministries for the current fiscal. Planning comminsion informed PM that Indian railways laid 450 kms of new track in 2013-14, which was short of the targeted 500 km. Commission has proposed laying of 300 km new railway track during for the current financial year. Plan panel also proposed to set a target of 700 km for doubling of rail tracks in the current fiscal against 900 km targeted in 2013-14.

For the civil aviation sector, the Commission has proposed to lower the investment target to Rs 934 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 1,008 crore in previous fiscal which recorded investment realisation at about 55 per cent of the target. Regarding the road sector, the commission reported that 189 highway projects involving a cost of Rs 1,80,000 crore are stuck due to problems of land acquisition, delays in forest and environment clearances, non-transfer of defence land and hurdles in rail over bridges, among other things. Further the issue of coal shortage in the country was also discussed in the meeting.

The infrastructure development is a most critical prerequisite to boost the economic growth. The government has been taking various measures to boost the infrastructure sector’s growth.  It has set the $1-trillion investment target for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth. Further, in order to expedite the implementation of infra projects, the government has set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,747.45 down by 43 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 7,799.90 and 7,746.70. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 1.91%, PNB up by 1.70%, HCL tech up by 1.17%, BHEL up by 1.01% and Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.29%, HDFC down by 1.93%, DLF down by 1.90%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.77% and NMDC down by 1.65% were the major losers on the index.

Most of Asian equity indices were trading in green; Hang Seng up by 0.96% to 24,447.86, Shanghai Composite up by 2.25% to 2,174.33 and Nikkei 225 up by 0.43% to 15,525.03. While, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.20% to 9,420.18