Markets continue to trade lower in tight band

Pressurized by feeble global cues, key barometer gauges continued to trade lower in range bound trade in early noon deals. Asian peers were trading mostly in the red after a preliminary reading of China's manufacturing sector showed activity making a surprise improvement this month while the sub-indexes for the flash Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report painted a mixed picture. Moreover, a heavy decline in employment rates in China will become a new source of worry given the Chinese government strong commitment to keep employment unaffected even if it hurts economic growth. Sentiments also remained dampened after Brent crude oil prices rebounded from a one-week low.

Back home, sentiments were down-beat on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 186.41 crore on September 22, 2014. Depreciation in the Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. Rupee was trading at 60.88 per dollar at this point of time as compared to its previous close of 60.81/82. However, losses remained capped as some support came in with Crisil saying that Indian economy may record 5.5% growth this fiscal as India is bound to benefit the most when oil prices come down and it will be visible this year, reducing the cost of production for those industries which use oil as a primary input.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical stocks rallied on report that India’s decision to withdraw the drug pricing authority's powers to fix the prices of non-essential medicines will be on a prospective basis, and will not affect price caps imposed in July on 108 drugs. Moreover, power stocks too edged higher on the back of 22% higher power generation than last year in the country during April-June.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27138.67, down by 68.07 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 27101.83 and 27256.87. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index up by 0.21%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.06%, IT up by 0.53%, Power up by 0.52%, TECK up by 0.33% and FMCG up by 0.31% while, Realty down by 1.61%, Metal down by 0.91%, Oil & Gas down by 0.72%, Capital Goods down by 0.59% and PSU down by 0.46% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.45%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.34%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.25%, BHEL up by 0.86% and NTPC up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.67%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.49%, Tata Steel down by 1.38%, Coal India down by 1.08% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has said that the government wants Indian airlines to take up more international routes and is ready to sign new bilateral agreements towards this. Raju opined that the government would definitely not mind the increasing number of international passengers and raising freight, but this should contribute to our economy’s GDP and not to another country's GDP. However, he also pointed that Indian airlines were not making use of the existing bilateral agreements and such agreements are pointless if Indian airlines do not perform and use it. He said there were plans to professionalize the management of Air India but there's long way to go to turnaround the national carrier.

Earlier, the private airline operators have opposed government’s proposal to promote regional connectivity by asking private carriers to deploy 100 per cent of trunk route capacity on regional routes among other requirements. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, had said that they will open no frills airports in regional locations and also urged airlines to include remote locations to improve connectivity.

The revised draft policy on air connectivity to regional and remote areas termed the state governments as major stakeholders in improving air connectivity in the hinterland, asking them to take financial measures like slashing VAT on jet fuel and underwriting of some seats to encourage aviation growth. It also suggests that the state governments should waive electricity and municipal charges like house and property taxes for five years for airport infrastructure.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8124.70, down by 21.60 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 8113.80 and 8159.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 1.51%, HCL Tech up by 1.49%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.30%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.25% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.22%. On the flip side, DLF down by 3.24%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.70%, Hindalco down by 1.66%, NMDC down by 1.62% and Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Straits Times rose 7.15 points or 0.22% to 3,303.72, Shanghai Composite increased 20.55 points or 0.9% to 2,310.41 and Hang Seng was up by 29.87 points or 0.12% to 23,985.36, while Taiwan Weighted shed 49.75 points or 0.54% to 9,084.90, Jakarta Composite declined 33.41 points or 0.64% to 5,186.40, KOSPI Index decreased 10.36 points or 0.51% to 2,028.91 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.62 points or 0.25% to 1,841.43.

The Japanese market remained shut for the trade today in observance of Autumn Equinox Day.