Markets recover from day’s low; Sensex reclaims 26,850 mark

Local equity markets, after slipping into negative territory, have just about added losses in absence of any buying activity and prevailing global growth concerns which prompted investors to seek  safe heavens  safety, in order to avoid market turmoil. However, some amount of recovery was witnessed as market-participants took position in beaten down, but fundamentally strong stocks. Off day’s low, both Sensex and Nifty above crucial 26,850 and 8,050 levels respectively, with losses of around three tenths of a percent. Meanwhile, broader indices underperforming larger counterparts with wide margins, were trading with losses of over half a percent.

On the global front, Asian stock markets snapped two days of declines on Wednesday but gains were tempered by worries about the plunge in oil prices and renewed doubts about Greece's membership of the euro currency bloc. Additionally, a survey published on Tuesday indicating the eurozone saw anaemic growth in December, and suffered its worst quarter for more than a year, also limited further gains of markets.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were reeling under pressures, however stocks from Metal, Realty and Power counters were the prominent losers of the session. On the flip side, stocks from Oil & Gas counter were the only gainers of the session. Additionally, shares of three public sector oil marketing companies and paint companies rose as global crude oil prices extended losses. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1415:603; while 20 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26881.59, down by 105.87 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 26776.12 and 27051.60. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.59%, while Small cap index down by 0.71%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.69% while, Metal down by 1.73%, Realty down by 1.05%, Bankex down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.68% and IT down by 0.57% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.09%, Reliance Industries up by 1.55%, NTPC up by 1.43%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.06% and ONGC up by 0.80%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 3.13%, BHEL down by 3.12%, ICICI Bank down by 2.80%, Hindalco down by 2.31% and Tata Steel down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, car manufacturers in India, which just got an ugly shock with withdrawal of excise duty exemptions, may have something to hinge on in the new fiscal year since the centre is examining the possibility of extending incentives for export of cars to all markets, including large ones such as the European Union (EU) in view of dwindling exports for the industry.

The Heavy Industry Ministry has proposed to the Commerce Ministry to include car exports in the ‘focus product’ scheme so that shipments to major markets could be incentivized. Under the Focus Product scheme, an incentive of up to 5% of the export value is for exports of specific products to all markets. Under the present Foreign Trade Policy, an incentive of 2 per cent of export value is given to cars shipped from India to markets where the country has an insignificant presence, such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore and Ukraine. China and Japan, too were included.

Notably, India’s car exports declined 8.3% to 2.68 lakh units in the April-September 2014-15 period, according to data from the Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers (SIAM).

However, this is not for the first time that Heavy Ministry was proposing something of this sort. The Ministry in the ‘Make in India’ workshop as well, pitched for inclusion of cars in the Focus Product scheme, where it argued that such a sop would encourage manufacturing in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8099.95, down by 27.40 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 8065.45 and 8151.20. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.20%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.14%, Asian Paints up by 1.78%, Reliance Industries up by 1.58% and NTPC up by 1.58%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.24%, GAIL India down by 3.01%, PNB down by 2.77%, ICICI Bank down by 2.76% and Cairn India down by 2.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; KOSPI Index trading higher by 1.38 points or 0.07% to 1,883.83; Nikkei 225 rising by 2.14 points or 0.01% to 16,885.33; Straits Times advancing by 14.19 points or 0.43% to 3,296.14; Shanghai Composite edging higher by 15.57 points or 0.46% to 3,367.02; Jakarta Composite adding 27.64 points or 0.53% to 5,196.70; Taiwan Weighted gaining by 31.75 points or 0.35% to 9,080.09 and Hang Seng advancing by 86.87 points or 0.37% to 23,572.28 . On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 3.86 points or 0.22% to 1,712.72 was the only lone loser on the index.