Benchmarks trade slightly in the red in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading slightly in the red in early deals as investors opted to book some profit amid weak global cues. The US markets ended lower in last session as investors reacted negatively to quarterly results from financial giants Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time after Switzerland’s unexpected move to abandon its currency cap jolted markets already roiled by plunging commodities prices. 

Back home, sentiments also remained down-beat after TCS reported lower-than-expected Q3 numbers. The company’s net profit grew 2.94 percent sequentially to Rs 5,444 crore, aided by other income. Investors also remained on sidelines ahead of Reliance Industries’ (RIL) Q3 numbers, to be announced later in the day. The company is expected to post its first drop in net profit in six quarters as inventory losses due to a fall in crude oil prices weigh on profitability and take away the benefits of higher gross refining margins (GRMs) in the fiscal third quarter. However, losses remained capped as some support came in from reports that trade deficit for December 2014 stood at 10-month low with further hope that imports will continue to decline. Trade deficit during December fell sharply to $9 billion from $16.8 billion in November 2014. While exports for the month came in at $25.40 billion from $25.96 billion in November, imports declined to $34.83 billion from $42.82 billion in the previous month.

On the sectoral front, consumer durables, healthcare and fast moving consumer goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software, technology and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,079 shares on the gaining side against 828 shares on the losing side while 64 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28022.73, down by 52.82 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 27945.31 and 28106.22. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.22%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 2.65%, Healthcare up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.46%, Capital Goods up by 0.45% and PSU up by 0.11% while, IT down by 0.51%, TECK down by 0.46%, Realty down by 0.24%, Auto down by 0.14% and Bankex down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.71%, HDFC Bank up by 1.28%, Cipla up by 1.14%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.13% and Coal India up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.39%, TCS down by 2.00%, Tata Steel down by 1.60%, SBI down by 1.20% and GAIL India down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Power has approved an investment proposal of Rs 996 crore for capital projects of Central Power Research Institute (CPRI) in order to serve the growing needs of research and development in the Indian power sector including development of advanced testing facilities. 

The move will help to establish new laboratory in Western Region at Nasik. Besides it will also support establishment of new test facilities in existing laboratories of CPRI, located at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkota, Guwahati, Noida and Nagpur.

CPRI is an autonomous society under the aegis of the Ministry of Power and was set up to serve as a National level laboratory for undertaking applied research in electrical power engineering. Furthermore, the society also functions as an independent test and certification authority for electrical equipments and components for ensuring reliability in the power system.

India is still a power deficit country, facing a peak power deficit of around 3-4%. In India, electricity is produced through coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Coal-fired plants account for around 59% of India's total installed electricity capacity. Acute coal shortage in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8480.20, down by 13.95 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8452.25 and 8530.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.83%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.69%, HDFC Bank up by 1.21%, BPCL up by 1.21% and Coal India up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.50%, DLF down by 1.96%, TCS down by 1.77%, Tata Steel down by 1.68% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian equity markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 tumbled 450.96 points or 2.64% to 16,657.74, Hang Seng declined 243.35 points or 1% to 24,107.56, Straits Times decreased 37.1 points or 1.11% to 3,301.74, KOSPI Index shed 27.88 points or 1.46% to 1,886.26, Taiwan Weighted slipped 9.81 points or 0.11% to 9,155.28 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.27 points or 0.24% to 1,740.73.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite rose 1.98 points or 0.04% to 5,190.69 and Shanghai Composite was up by 34.78 points or 1.04% to 3,371.23.