Benchmarks continue weak trade; Bankex drags

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Power and Infra stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Consumer Durables and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda was trading in red on reporting 68 percent (Y-o-Y) decline in profit at Rs 334 crore for quarter ended December 2014. Higher provisions and tax rate impacted the bottom-line. Oriental Bank of Commerce continued its trade in red after the bank yesterday reported its quarterly profit which plunged as provisions for bad loans rose sharply and also due to a one-off adjustment.

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 8,850 and 29,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1206:1490 while 109 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29296.35, down by 385.42 points or 1.30% after trading in a range of 29232.96 and 29844.16. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.09%, while Small cap index down by 0.08%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.92%, Power up by 1.25%, INFRA up by 0.29%, IT up by 0.25%, TECK up by 0.04% while, Bankex down by 2.14%, Consumer Durables down by 1.82%, PSU down by 1.45%, FMCG down by 0.78%, Auto down by 0.69% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.22%, BHEL up by 2.19%, Tata Power up by 1.76%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.35% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.58%. On the flip side, SBI down by 5.57%, Coal India down by 3.64%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 3.49%, HDFC down by 3.33% and TCS down by 2.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Urban Development Secretary Shankar Aggarwal unveiled that the framework for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious project of developing 100 smart cities will be finalized by next month-end. The minister further said that the government in next two days would be completing the process for identification of 100 smart cities.

The government’s objective is to develop cities with technology-based governance, which will enable efficient public services and have 24x7 water and power supply, 100% sewerage, drainage and solid waste management facilities, besides top class infrastructure.

Further, the government expects a large contribution from the private sector in developing the cities as it plans to build this project on public private partnership basis. As per the envisaged plan, every city would on an average need investments to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore over next 10 years and the private sector is expected to contribute largely, nearly 80-85%, towards this development, according to the government.

Besides, Union Urban development ministry has asked the states to ensure that the cities picked under the smart cities initiative would have to meet the broad contours listed by it, including economically viable cities, meeting the requirements of 'e-governance', 'Swachh Bharat' and 'Make in India’.

Lastly, the minister unveiled that the centre would take a final call on criteria like cities accounting for 54% of incremental GDP till 2025, hill and coastal areas, tourist and religious centres and mid-sized cities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8839.95, down by 112.40 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 8820.00 and 8996.60. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 8.81%, DLF up by 2.85%, NTPC up by 2.22%, BHEL up by 2.12% and Tata Power up by 1.99%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 10.36%, SBI down by 5.67%, PNB down by 4.24%, HDFC down by 3.84% and Coal India down by 3.59% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 88.8 points or 0.36% to 24,507.05, Taiwan Weighted decreased 64.99 points or 0.69% to 9,361.91, Shanghai Composite decreased 51.94 points or 1.59% to 3,210.36, Straits Times decreased 3.93 points or 0.11% to 3,415.12 and KOSPI Index decreased 1.76 points or 0.09% to 1,949.26.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.56 points or 0.31% to 1,787.74, Jakarta Composite increased 25.33 points or 0.48% to 5,288.05 and Nikkei 225 increased 68.17 points or 0.39% to 17,674.39.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 22.03 points or 0.32% to 6,832.63, France’s CAC increased 23.73 points or 0.51% to 4,655.16 and Germany’s DAX increased 53.68 points or 0.5% to 10,791.55.