Benchmarks trade lower in early deals on Friday

Snapping their seven day winning streak, Indian equity benchmarks have made a somber start and are trading with a cut of over half a percent in early deals on Friday as investors opted to book profit after several rallies. Also, Germany’s rejection of Greece’s request for an extension to its loan agreement has dampened the sentiments of the market participants. Further, investors have also turned cautious ahead of the Union Budget to be presented in the forthcoming week. However, losses remained capped upto certain extent as some support with Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry allaying fears over Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), saying that FTA pacts may not lead to trade deficits. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said India is ranked fairly low in ease of doing business.

On the global front, the US markets made another mixed closing in last session, with Nasdaq extending its winning streak. Uncertainty about the situation in Greece kept the market mood cautious, though traders remained optimistic a deal will eventually be reached. In the Asian region while still lots of markets are not trading, but those who are trading have made a positive start.

Back home, on the sectoral front, realty, metal and healthcare witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while oil and gas, software and banking 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 1075 shares on the gaining side against 886 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29236.84, down by 225.43 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 29178.26 and 29462.09. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index up by 0.17%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.61%, Metal up by 0.45%, Healthcare up by 0.30%, Auto up by 0.15% and Capital Goods up by 0.04% while, Oil & Gas down by 1.39%, IT down by 0.83%, Bankex down by 0.80%, TECK down by 0.79% and Consumer Durables down by 0.60% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.08%, BHEL up by 1.55%, Tata Steel up by 1.13%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.89% and GAIL India up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.00%, ICICI Bank down by 2.32%, HDFC down by 1.87%, Tata Power down by 1.42% and Wipro down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari pitching for greater transparency and faster decision making at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has said that the government is planning to revamp the roads body.

NHAI which became operational in February 1995 and is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of national highways, witnessed its last restructuring in 2009 to enhance its institutional capacity. It was done to make it a multi-disciplinary professional body with quality financial management and contract management expertise.

The minister also emphasised on the need for reducing project costs and said, “We want to reduce the cost of the project and if we want to do that then we have to reduce the cost of material used for the project. Adding further, he slammed the cement industry for indulging in “cartelization” and said that it was pushing up costs for roads and highway projects. He also said that he will be approaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of “cartelization” by the cement industry.

The government had targeted awarding 8,000 km of road projects during the current financial year, majority of which will be built on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) basis and so far it has been able to award 7,000 km of projects.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8831.20, down by 64.10 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 8816.30 and 8899.95. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.89%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.82%, BHEL up by 1.57%, DLF up by 1.36% and Tata Steel up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.28%, ICICI Bank down by 2.39%, Tata Power down by 1.64%, HDFC down by 1.61% and TCS down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Asian equity indices which were opened today trading in the green; Jakarta Composite increased 28.36 points or 0.53% to 5,418.81 and Nikkei 225 was up by 64.1 points or 0.35% to 18,328.89.