Markets languish at day’s low; Nifty continues to sulk sub 8,100 mark

Gradually losing steam, benchmark equity indices were languishing at day’s low point in absence of any buying activity on the back of somber global cues. Caution ahead of key data and events, such as outcome of the European Central Bank's policy meeting later in the day and the U.S. non-farm payrolls data on Friday, keeping market-participants on the tenterhooks were contributing the downbeat of local equity markets, which took a sharp hit after string of record high in the recent session. Sulking at day’s low, both Sensex and Nifty were trading below the psychologically crucial 27,000 and 8,100 levels respectively, with losses of around half a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices also imitating somber mood, were trading lower in the range of 0.65%-1.10%.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares surrendered all the early gains after Bank of Japan board decided by a unanimous vote to leave the bank's policy target unchanged, as expected, keeping its “cautiously’ optimistic economic outlook intact. Meanwhile, European shares, taking a breather following the previous session's sharp gains, got off to a negative start as investors waited to see whether the European Central Bank will unveil further immediate stimulus steps to stave off deflation.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE settled in the favour of negative terrain, however stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods counters proved to be the only exceptions. On the flip side, Realty stocks were hit the most, followed by stocks from Metal and Consumer Durable counters. Meanwhile, banking stocks too were reeling under pressure after RBI has permitted ECB lenders for extending loans in Indian Rupees to domestic businesses, a move which would add to the competition for local banks, which are already facing poor credit off-take by India Inc. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1793:874; while 75 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26991.55, down by 148.39 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 26973.64 and 27169.12. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.69%, while Small cap index down by 1.08%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.21% while, Realty down by 4.78%, Metal down by 1.66%, Consumer Durables down by 1.58%, Capital Goods down by 1.38% and INFRA down by 1.11% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 0.92%, ITC up by 0.62%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.59%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.47% and NTPC up by 0.43%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 4.25%, Hindalco down by 4.11%, Tata Steel down by 2.48%, ICICI Bank down by 2.02% and Tata Power down by 1.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has cleared 22 FDI proposals worth Rs 3,249 crore, including investment proposals of KSK Energy Ventures, Telenor Mobile, InterGlobe Aviation among 19 others. These proposals have been cleared following recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

KSK Energy Ventures’ proposal, with 74.94% foreign equity and entailing investment of Rs 1,050 crore, has been given permission to issue and allot warrants to foreign promoters. Additionally, Norway-based Telenor, through Telenor South Asia Investment Pte (Singapore), has got government's nod to increase its shareholding in Telewings Communication (Uninor) to 100% from the existing 74%. The proposal is worth Rs 78 crore.

Besides, FIPB has also cleared the proposal of IndiGo’s holding company, InterGlobe Aviation, which would clear the way for fresh Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in air carrier IndiGo and make roads for the company to hit the primary market. In a cashless transaction, InterGlobe Aviation will issue 147,000 equity shares having face value of Rs 1,000 to NRI owners of Caelum in proportion to the voting units held by them.

Further, government also has given green signal to Credit Investment trust’ proposal seeking foreign investment of up to Rs 500 crore by Religare India Credit Assets Fund, Netherlands in the Class A units of Religare Credit Opportunities Fund Scheme I, an AIF Category II Fund. Meanwhile, other proposals which have been cleared include that of Gurgaon-based Baxter (India) (pharma firm), ARKRAY Healthcare (pharma), Verdant Telemetry & Antenna Systems (defence), Genpact India (IT) and Innisfree Cosmetics India (trading).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8066.30, down by 48.30 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 8060.90 and 8114.80. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 1.09%, HDFC up by 0.90%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.81%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.78% and ITC up by 0.62%. On the flip side, DLF down by 8.15%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 4.30%, BHEL down by 4.07%, Hindalco down by 4.05% and Tata Steel down by 2.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; with Nikkei 225 trading lower by 52.17 points or 0.33% to 15,676.18; Taiwan Weighted trading lower by 21.46 points or 0.23% to 9,428.89; Straits Times trading lower by 9.05 points or 0.27% to 3,339.72; Hang Seng trading lower by 8.74 points or 0.03% to 25,309.21 and Jakarta Composite trading lower by 4.57 points or 0.09% to 5,219.57. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.31 points or 0.02% to 1,865.18; KOSPI Index up by 5.06 points or 0.25% to 2,056.26 and Shanghai Composite up by 17.5 points or 0.76% to 2,306.13.

European Markets got off to a mostly negative start; with Germany’s DAX trading lower by 28.47 points or 0.3% to 9,598.02 and France’s CAC inching lower by 16.81 points or 0.38% to 4,405.06. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was trading up by 3.31 points or 0.05% to 6,876.89