Markets facing stiff resistance to move back in green

The choppiness on the street prevails towards the noon trade with not much respite in sight. Markets after slipping of their early highs are facing stiff resistance to move back into green and profit taking has spread across the board. Trade for the day was not under pressure only due to global worries but, also because of some disappointing earnings announcements. PTC India reported fall of 92.70% in its net profit at Rs 6.63 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. Hindustan Copper’s net profit for the third quarter fell by 84.64% at Rs 10.59 crore, while Tata Motors reported a net loss of Rs 2122.72 crore for the quarter as compared to net profit of Rs 1251.40 crore on a standalone basis. Traders have even overlooked the HSBC and Markit survey that stated that India's manufacturing and services sectors expanded at a faster pace than China in January.  Back on street, auto, power, capital goods and healthcare were dragging the markets lower, while some support was coming from IT, tech and defensive sector FMCG.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28833.81, down by 17.16 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 28721.24 and 28922.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.74%, while Small cap index lost 1.33%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.85%, TECK up by 0.74%, FMCG up by 0.68%, Consumer Durables up by 0.44% while, Auto down by 2.28%, Power down by 0.93%, Capital Goods down by 0.67%, Oil & Gas down by 0.48%, Metal down by 0.42% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.90%, Cipla up by 1.94%, Infosys up by 1.20%, Wipro up by 1.15% and ITC up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.00%, GAIL India down by 2.96%, BHEL down by 1.98%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.93% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to solve the problems being faced by Indian Metal Recycling Industry, Union Minister Vishnu Deo has stated that the Mine Ministry will be looking into issue of import duty on scrap, special additional duty and trade pacts with countries.

This development comes after Metals Recycling Association of India expressed its apprehension over metal recycling being badly affected by heavy import duty, Special Additional Duty (SAD) regime and certain Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries and hence demanded government to draft a Metal Recycling Policy to grant “Industry status” to the sector and rationalize duty structures to make it a globally competitive industry.

Further, it also urged the Ministry of Steel and Mines to consider the removal of import duty and SAD, levied on imported scrap products on immediate basis in the forthcoming budget and expressed the dire need of government’s intervention to save the already bleeding industry from dying. Lastly, the association also requested the Government of Maharashtra to create special recycling zones in the State.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8700.85, down by 10.85 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 8661.65 and 8726.20. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 3.20%, Cairn India up by 3.04%, Cipla up by 1.98%, PNB up by 1.98% and Infosys up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.98%, GAIL India down by 3.01%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.43%, DLF down by 2.24% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.87% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were mostly trading in green, KOSPI Index was up by 2.68 points or 0.14% to 1,955.52, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.6 points or 0.37% to 1,809.81, Jakarta Composite was up by 30.41 points or 0.58% to 5,310.30, Straits Times was higher by 30.71 points or 0.9% to 3,437.29, Nikkei 225 surged by 143.88 points or 0.82% to 17,648.50. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted declined by 55.87 points or 0.59% to 9,456.18, Shanghai Composite was down by 39.77 points or 1.27% to 3,096.77 and Hang Seng lost 17.06 points or 0.07% to 24,748.43.