Markets trade flat in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were hovering near their neutral lines in early noon deals as investors 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. Some support to the markets 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.

However, global cues remained somber with most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red terrain 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, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 1,738.24 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

On the sectoral front, consumer durables, realty and power witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while software, technology and banking remained the few losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,341 shares on the gaining side against 1,135 shares on the losing side while 98 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28072.97, down by 2.58 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 27945.31 and 28108.73. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.50%, while Small cap index up by 0.48%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.98%, Realty up by 1.17%, Power up by 1.05%, Capital Goods up by 1.00% and FMCG up by 0.72% while, IT down by 0.44%, TECK down by 0.32% and Bankex down by 0.03% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.76%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.48%, HDFC Bank up by 1.45%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.40% and BHEL up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.62%, TCS down by 1.66%, SBI down by 1.39%, Tata Motors down by 1.32% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to bring greater transparency in the allotment of coal linkages, the Government is now mulling auctioning coal linkages through the competitive bidding route and has also constituted an inter-ministerial panel to look into various models to implement it. 

The government’s statement notified that an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted with a view to consider various models and to recommend the optimal structure that would meet the requirements of all the stakeholders. The 16-member panel will have representatives from the ministries like Power, Railways, Steel and Legal and NITI Ayog.

The government is set to auction coal blocks, including operational and several others close to production, after the Supreme Court in September cancelled all mine allotments since 1993. The government will auction total 101 coal mines out of which 65 mines will be allocated to private players while 36 other blocks will be directly allotted to state-owned companies. Furthermore, it is targeting revenue of Rs 1.47 lakh crore from the allotment and auction of 92 cancelled coal blocks in the first round of auction. Out of the 92 cancelled coal blocks, 57 mines will be allocated to power sector while 35 other blocks to non-power sector and captive power plants.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8495.65, up by 1.50 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8452.25 and 8530.75. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.73%, Power Grid Corporation up by 2.69%, Coal India up by 1.97%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.63% and Asian Paints up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.69%, PNB down by 2.17%, Cairn India down by 1.56%, TCS down by 1.42% and SBI down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets trade mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 tumbled 270.21 points or 1.58% to 16,838.49, Hang Seng decreased 185.61 points or 0.76% to 24,165.30, Straits Times declined 35.29 points or 1.06% to 3,303.55, Taiwan Weighted shed 26.8 points or 0.29% to 9,138.29, KOSPI Index dropped 26.01 points or 1.36% to 1,888.13, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 2.43 points or 0.14% to 1,742.57 and Jakarta Composite was down by 1.62 points or 0.03% to 5,187.09. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 43.78 points or 1.31% to 3,380.23.