Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets trimmed losses and continued to trade weak in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Investors were cautious ahead of macroeconomic data i.e. Index of Industrial production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data which is schedule to be released later in the day. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, IT and Capital Goods stocks while selling was witnessed in Metal, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks. In scrip specific development, PVR is trading in green on reports that it will be buying Chennai-based SPI Cinemas, popularly known as Sathyam Cinemas, for about Rs 700-1000 crore. Coal India was trading in red on reports that the government is planning to sell a 10% stake in the state-run coal miner.

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 8,300 and 27,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1574:1159 while 97 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27434.53, down by 23.85 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 27323.74 and 27539.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55%, while Small cap index up by 0.78%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.26%, IT up by 0.67%, Capital Goods up by 0.56%, Bankex up by 0.48%, TECK up by 0.38% while, Metal down by 1.80%, Oil & Gas down by 1.53%, PSU down by 0.55%, INFRA down by 0.46%, Auto down by 0.27% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.57%, Infosys up by 1.51%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.24%, Axis Bank up by 0.99% and SBI up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.83%, Hindalco down by 2.65%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.33%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.25% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, persuading global investors to invest in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to make India the easiest destination to do business with a stable tax regime and a predictable, transparent and fair policy environment. Stressing that the government is working to provide a policy-driven governance, Narendra Modi has stated that a single window clearance for projects is being set up at both central and state level to boost the manufacturing sector. India has low-cost and high quality manpower and global players must have to leverage this opportunity.

Prime Minister added that government is actively working to revive the economy and listed out recent initiatives taken by his government. He added that FDI in construction has been liberalised, 100 percent foreign investment has been allowed in railways, defence sector has been opened for FDI up to 49 percent and a hiked FDI to 49% in the insurance sector. To boost the infrastructure development, a fast track PPP mechanism is being put in place to speed up the implementation of roads, gas grids, electricity and water systems, farm irrigation projects.

Indian economic growth had slowed down to below 5% over the last two financial years amid concerns like high interest rate and stubborn inflation, low investments and slow execution of infrastructure projects. However, the domestic economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at 5.5% during H1FY15 as compared to 4.9% H1FY14.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8282.20, down by 2.30 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 8245.60 and 8297.65. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.44%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.69%, PNB up by 2.01%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.76% and Infosys up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.87%, Cairn India down by 3.85%, Hindalco down by 2.61%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.26% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.14% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite decreased 56.1 points or 1.71% to 3,229.32, Taiwan Weighted decreased 37.28 points or 0.4% to 9,178.30, Jakarta Composite decreased 24.03 points or 0.46% to 5,192.63 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.75 points or 0.19% to 1,920.95.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.18 points or 0.01% to 1,732.62, Straits Times increased 7.03 points or 0.21% to 3,345.47 and Hang Seng increased 106.51 points or 0.45% to 24,026.46.

Japan’s Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Coming of Age (Adults) Day’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.94 points or 0.38% to 6,526.08, France’s CAC increased 34.68 points or 0.83% to 4,213.75 and Germany’s DAX increased 79.7 points or 0.83% to 9,728.20.