Benchmarks at day’s low; still hold head above water

At day’s low, benchmark equity indices are just about holding their heads above water with slender gains of over one tenth of a percent, which has kept both Sensex and Nifty above crucial 26,350 and 7,850 levels respectively. Absence of positive triggers at home front and somber regional counterparts mainly are underpinning market-participants to take profits off the table. However, broader indices showing resilience are trading with gains of over half a percent.

Sentiment rather soured after reports suggested that States agreed on GST threshold, but failed to get much further from thereon as consensus on the contentious issues continues to be elusive. The empowered committee of state finance ministers that met on Wednesday agreed to adopt a turnover threshold of Rs 10 lakh for traders to register for GST but demanded audit and enforcement powers over small traders who would be exempt from dual controls. Additionally, disappointing weather reports also were weighing on the sentiment. As per the latest weather report, monsoon had started weakening again, delivering scanty showers for three days after a spell of good rains that helped drought stressed crops and planting in certain regions of the country.

On the global front, Asian shares came under pressure on Thursday as a disappointing survey on Chinese manufacturing stoked concerns about the regional giant and overshadowed better news from Japan. However, despite mostly negative hand over from Asian counterparts, European shares got off to mostly positive start.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were still trading in green, with prominent gainers being the stocks belonging the Consumer Durables, banking and Capital Goods counters. On the flip side, much of the beating was taken by stocks from Metal, Power and Realty stocks which emerged as the top losers of the session. Metal stocks tanked as Steel companies fell on concerns of weak demand after slower growth in China. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1163:729; while 26 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26353.46, up by 39.17 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 26302.26 and 26464.80. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.64%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 3.31%, Bankex up by 1.23%, Capital Goods up by 0.56%, PSU up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.42% while, Metal down by 0.95%, Power down by 0.43%, Realty down by 0.32%, IT down by 0.21%, TECK down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.95%, SBI up by 1.74%, Axis Bank up by 1.66%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.12% and HDFC Bank up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.49%, NTPC down by 1.48%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.47%, Hindalco down by 1.25% and Sesa Sterlite down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, concerned over the delay in the completion of several defence projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to speed up and complete its programmes on time.

Several DRDO projects in the country such as Nag missile, Long-Range Surface-to-Air Missile project, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Airborne Early Warning and Control System projects have been delayed by many years and seen several cost overruns.

The Prime Minister has said that the technology in defence sector is changing fast and DRDO should take initiatives to complete projects before time which would help in easing the lives of the armed forces personnel.  By adding further, Narendra Modi has said that the DRDO should develop a mechanism where it should take ideas for developing products from the armed forces personnel as they are the ultimate users of these systems.

Emphasizing the need to give more opportunities to youth, the Prime Minister urged the DRDO to make provisions that in 5 out of its 52 labs, people with only less than 35 years of age are employed and the power of ultimate decision-making is also vested in them.

Meanwhile, in order to expand the domestic industrial base in defence sector, the cabinet hiked FDI ceiling to 49 percent ensuring control in Indian hands, for boosting country’s defence sector which imports up to 70 percent of its military hardware.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7884.45, up by 9.15 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 7868.15 and 7919.65. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were PNB up by 2.49%, Bank Of Baroda up by 2.39%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.08%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.90% and SBI up by 1.61%. On the flip side, United Spirits down by 1.97%, Tata Steel down by 1.63%, NTPC down by 1.48%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.36% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were mostly trading in red; with Hang Seng declined by 156.81 points or 0.62% to 25,002.95; Taiwan Weighted slid by 34.67 points or 0.37% to 9,253.38; KOSPI Index plunged by 28.57 points or 1.38% to 2,044.21; Jakarta Composite surrendered 25.82 points or 0.5% to 5,164.34; Shanghai Composite dropped 11.53 points or 0.51% to 2,228.68; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 6.31 points or 0.34% to 1,872.58. On the flip side, Straits Times increased 1.71 points or 0.05% to 3,325.36 and Nikkei 225 increased 131.75 points or 0.85% to 15,586.20 were the only gainers amongst Asian pack.

European markets got off to a positive start; with France’s CAC rising by 1.37 points or 0.03% to 4,242.16; UK’s FTSE 100 gaining by 3.07 points or 0.05% to 6,758.55 and  Germany’s DAX adding 7.07 points or 0.08% to 9,321.64