Benchmarks trade lower on first day of 2015

Indian equity benchmarks have started the calendar year 2015 on a subdued note tracking weak global cues. Moreover, traders remained cautious on mixed set of economic indicators, while the Central Government’s fiscal deficit for the April-November period touched 99 per cent of the Budget estimate for 2014-15, on the other, Core sector output grew at its fastest in five months in November, backed by the robust performance of coal, electricity and cement sectors. Core Sector grew by 6.7% from a year ago and faster than October’s 6.3%.

On the global front, the US markets ended the last session of the year with deep cuts, though they posted strong gains for the year. The day’s losses were triggered by a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected rebound in initial jobless claims in the week ended December 27th. All the major Asian markets are closed on account of New Year holiday.

Back home, on the sectoral front, capital goods, consumer durables and auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while oil and gas, metal and fast moving consumer goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader, however, outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1168 shares on the gaining side against 539 shares on the losing side while 66 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27454.27, down by 45.15 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 27395.34 and 27493.37. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.52%, while Small cap index up by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.35%, Consumer Durables up by 0.34%, Auto up by 0.32%, Healthcare up by 0.28% and PSU up by 0.28% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.28%, Metal down by 0.24%, FMCG down by 0.14% and Bankex down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.07%, BHEL up by 1.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.72%, SBI up by 0.69% and Tata Power up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 0.79%, HDFC down by 0.79%, NTPC down by 0.76%, Hindalco down by 0.63% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost the infrastructure development in the country, Environment Ministry has provided a major relaxation for faster execution of all linear projects including roads, rail, power transmission lines, water supply lines and laying of optic fibre cables. Such infrastructure projects are likely to implement soon after getting in-principle approval from local authorities as the ministry intimated the District Forest Officers (DFO) to cut down the time to project approval work by three to six months.

The ministry relaxation also included as working permission for tree cutting and commencement of work. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has applauded the move, underscoring that getting permission for tree cutting, which is the first step to start work used to take a long. This decision and delegation of power to Divisional Forest Officer will help to fast-track project execution.

Environment and forest clearance were remained the main reasons for delay for the implementation of infrastructure projects mainly highway projects. During the past few months, a number of initiatives have already been taken to streamline green clearances, particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up an inter-ministerial committee on infrastructure under the Minister of Transport Nitin Gadkari.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8271.35, down by 11.35 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 8248.75 and 8276.70. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NMDC up by 1.34%, BHEL up by 1.13%, Cipla up by 1.07%, IDFC up by 0.95% and PNB up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 1.02%, Sesa Sterlite down by 0.79%, Coal India down by 0.79%, HDFC down by 0.77% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.73% were the top losers.

All the major Asian markets remained closed on account of New Year’s Holiday.