Benchmarks trim gains to trade in red

Indian equity markets pared gains and started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters with investors adopting a cautious approach at the start of F&O expiry week. Traders were seen piling positions in Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Bankex while selling was witnessed in Realty, Oil & Gas and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) was trading under pressure after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a probe into how Congress leader Naveen Jindal’s company got permission from the environment ministry under Jayanti Natarajan in 2013 to mine iron ore in Asia’s largest sal forest in the Naxal-affected Saranda area of Jharkhand. IndusInd Bank was trading in green after Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approved bank’s proposal to hike FII investment limit. Shares of defence related companies like BEL, BEML and Pipavav Defence were trading firm as the government approved defence projects worth a whopping Rs 80,000 crore.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,050 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1187:1472 while 108 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26819.85, down by 31.20 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 26803.05 and 26994.96. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.67%, while Small cap index down by 0.07%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.30%, Capital Goods up by 1.09%, Bankex up by 0.58%, Power up by 0.33%, Metal up by 0.32% while, Realty down by 3.74%, Oil & Gas down by 1.15%, FMCG down by 0.81%, Auto down by 0.78%, TECK down by 0.73% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 4.21%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.79%, Coal India up by 1.29%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.15% and Tata Power up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.02%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.97%, Wipro down by 1.44%, ONGC down by 1.35% and Reliance Industries down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with the intent of restricting oil imports and protecting domestic farmers, the government is mulling over an issue of raising import duty on crude and refined edible oils, among other matters. In the wake of local prices of oil falling to historic lows due to cheaper imports from Malaysia and Indonesia, Industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) has been demanding a duty hike in crude edible oils to 10% and on refined edible oils to 25%.

Further, in the meeting held between the Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, besides the import duty issue, problems faced by sugar mills in availing loans sanctioned through the Sugar Development Fund (SDF) along with the issue of additional budget allocation for FCI were discussed. Paswan, primarily, briefed Finance Minister about the current impasse between the UP sugar mills and the state government over cane price policy.

The food minister was in the favour of relaxing certain norms so that sugar mills could avail loans easily from SDF, while seeking additional budget allocation for state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) for giving food subsidies this fiscal. A budget allocation of Rs 92,000 crore has been made against the requirement of Rs 1,47,700 crore for this fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8007.10, down by 7.45 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8000.90 and 8064.40. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 4.45% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.20% and IndusInd Bank up by 2.10% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.70% and Coal India up by 1.59%. On the flip side, DLF down by 8.30%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 6.88%, Cairn India down by 3.46%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.20% and HCL Tech down by 2.01% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 158.97 points or 0.68% to 23,143.23, Jakarta Composite decreased 41.42 points or 0.82% to 5,031.65, Taiwan Weighted decreased 18.23 points or 0.21% to 8,627.78, Shanghai Composite decreased 11.84 points or 0.51% to 2,290.44 and Straits Times decreased 3.15 points or 0.1% to 3,219.40.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.95 points or 0.16% to 1,821.81, KOSPI Index increased 6.28 points or 0.33% to 1,931.97 and Nikkei 225 increased 97.08 points or 0.63% to 15,388.72.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 19.92 points or 0.48% to 4,148.82, Germany’s DAX increased 42.28 points or 0.47% to 9,030.08 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 25.6 points or 0.4% to 6,414.33.