Benchmarks continue weak trade; Oil & Gas drags

Indian equity markets continued trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, PSU and Power stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, IT and TECK sector stocks. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in shares of sugar companies as the Cabinet approved subsidy for raw sugar export. The government has cleared a proposal to raise subsidy of Rs 4,000 a tonne for exports of raw sugar. The move is likely to help companies export surplus sugar and clear cane price dues. In scrip specific development, SpiceJet was locked at upper circuit limit as Competition Commission of India has cleared founder Ajay Singh’s proposal to acquire controlling stake in the cash-strapped airline. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Aurobindo Pharma was trading firm on media reports that Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has referred investment proposals in Glenmark and Aurobindo - to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

On the global front, the European markets were trading on pessimistic note.  Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,900 and 29,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1467:1251 while 105 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29333.58, down by 128.69 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 29178.26 and 29462.09. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.39%, while Small cap index up by 0.71%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.49%, PSU up by 0.45%, Power up by 0.43%, Auto up by 0.43%, FMCG up by 0.34% while, Oil & Gas down by 1.71%, IT down by 0.93%, TECK down by 0.87%, Consumer Durables down by 0.83%, INFRA down by 0.28% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 3.73%, Hindalco up by 1.06%, ITC up by 1.04%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.94% and Tata Motors up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.03%, ICICI Bank down by 1.70%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.63%, Tata Power down by 1.53% and Infosys down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved eleven proposals of foreign direct investment (FDI) amounting to Rs 1075.91 crore. The approvals include Solar Arise India projects involving FDI of Rs 216.01 crore, SeQuent Scientific, Mumbai involving FDI of upto Rs 400 crore and proposal of BLP Wind Assets Holding for an amount of Rs 371 crore for setting up a joint venture firm for making downstream investments in the renewable energy sector. Also, JP Morgan Asset Management (Asia) Inc USA has got approval for the acquisition of remaining 25 per cent held by JP Morgan India in the joint venture set up in 2006 by the two companies, entailing investment up to Rs 80.13 crore.

On the other hand the board sent two proposals relating to Aurobindo Pharma, Hyderabad and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Mumbai for consideration of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to raise the cap of foreign institutional investor (FII) holding to 49 per cent, from 35.07 per cent at present. The investment involved in each of the proposal is above Rs 1,200 crore.

FIPB rejected foreign investment application of Johnson and Johnson proposal seeking deletion of the standard pharma conditions, stipulated in the approved letter and proposal of Singapore-based AppDynamics Asia Pacific Pte for replacing of partners of the proposed LLP, as the existing have tendered their resignation.

Recently, the government has eased the procedures for companies seeking approval for foreign direct investment; they can now e-file a single copy application with the FIPB. The applicants would also get SMS/email alerts related to the queries raised by the administrative ministries, inclusion of the proposal in the scheduled FIPB meeting and decisions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8867.85, down by 27.45 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 8816.30 and 8899.95. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 3.82%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.42%, IndusInd Bank up by 2.06%, PNB up by 1.69% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.17%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.70%, HCL Tech. down by 1.60%, Wipro down by 1.48% and Infosys down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher; with Jakarta Composite increased 22.37 points or 0.41% to 5,412.82 and Nikkei 225 increased 67.51 points or 0.37% to 18,332.30.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 32.84 points or 0.3% to 10,969.10, France’s CAC decreased 11.03 points or 0.23% to 4,822.25 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 0.93 points or 0.01% to 6,887.97.