Bourses magnify losses; sulk at day’s low point

Losing ground and magnifying losses, local barometer gauges were sulking at day’s low point on incremental selling in blue-chip stocks, namely, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Reliance Industries (RIL), in absence of any positive domestic triggers. Trading with losses of over half a percent, both Sensex and Nifty were languishing below the crucial 25,950 and 7750 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices too contributing to downbeat trend of local markets were trading with losses in the range of 0.35%-0.75%.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares were set for a mixed close, with Chinese shares sticking around seven-month high on Monday on fresh signs of a recovering economy and growing expectations that Beijing will accelerate reforms in the country's banking sector. Official data released on Sunday showed that profits at China's largest industrial firms rose 17.9% in June from a year earlier, up sharply from an 8.9% rise in May. Meanwhile, European stocks rose in early trade on Monday, regaining their poise after a drop in the previous session, with Ryanair surging 5% after the airline boosted its annual profit outlook.

Closer home, much of the selling which took place ahead of F&O expiry in the holiday truncated week, dragged most of the sectoral indices lower, however, stocks from Consumer Durable and Capital Goods counters were the only gaining index on BSE. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Oil & Gas and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) counters were the top losing sectoral indices on BSE. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1288:601; while 22 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25954.97, down by 171.78 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 25931.15 and 26181.83. 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 0.33%, while Small cap index down by 0.72%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.13%, Capital Goods up by 0.02% while, Realty down by 2.27%, Metal down by 1.44%, Oil & Gas down by 0.97%, PSU down by 0.75% and FMCG down by 0.74% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.77%, BHEL up by 1.08%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.62%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.36% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.27%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.08%, Reliance Industries down by 1.63%, Tata Steel down by 1.60%, TCS down by 1.49% and ICICI Bank down by 1.42% were the top losers.

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 7743.15, down by 47.30 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 7733.70 and 7799.90. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 1.99%, Axis Bank up by 1.81%, HCL Tech. up by 1.55%, PNB up by 1.49% and Bank of Baroda up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.38%, DLF down by 3.30%, ACC down by 2.25%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.68% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed at this point of time; with FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI inching higher by just 0.29 points or 0.02% to 1,877.34; KOSPI Index adding 14.96 points or 0.74% to 2,048.81; Shanghai Composite rallying 48.15 points or 2.26% to 2,174.76; Nikkei 225 gaining 71.53 points or 0.46% to 15,529.40; Hang Seng advancing 246.92 points or 1.02% to 24,462.93. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was declining by 19.11 points or 0.2% to 9,420.18; Jakarta Composite sliding by 9.84 points or 0.19% to 5,088.80 and Straits Times losing 3.72 points or 0.11% to 3,350.17.

European Markets got off to a positive start; with UK’s FTSE 100 rising by 11.57 points or 0.17% to 6,803.12;  France’s CAC gaining by 13.95 points or 0.32% to 4,344.50 and  Germany’s DAX adding 4.11 points or 0.04% to 9,639.90