Market give up all the early gains; ITC drag

Markets have given up all their early gains and were down marginally in the noon session of trade, Nifty that was once looking to reach the record high has turned flat and was trading with a negative bias below 8900 mark. There are some sectors specific profit booking that is dragging the markets lower. ITC on its losing spree, down by around 4% was dragging the whole FMCG pack lower, making it one of the biggest drag for the markets. The budget proposed 25% increase in excise duty on cigarettes of length not  exceeding 65 mm and by 15% for cigarettes of other lengths, cigars, cheroots and cigarillos. The budget has also increased the excise duty on cut tobacco from Rs 60 per kg to Rs 70 per kg. There was some concern in metal pack too after the government told the nominated authority in charge of e-auctioning coal blocks to re-examine the bid process for the Gare Palma IV/1, Gare Palma IV 2&3 and Marki Mangli III blocks, following certain reports of discrepancies. However, Capital Goods, Power, healthcare and banking , rejoicing on the budget proposals were trying to keep the markets upright, while the broader markets too were giving support with modest gains.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29295.04, down by 66.46 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 29283.23 and 29576.32. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming the benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index gained 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.29%, Bankex up by 0.78%, Power up by 0.34%, INFRA up by 0.30%, PSU up by 0.22%, while FMCG down by 2.05%, Realty down by 1.72%, Consumer Durables down by 1.26%, Auto down by 1.14%, Metal down by 0.86% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.29%, Axis Bank up by 3.23%, Cipla up by 2.24%, BHEL up by 1.91% and HDFC Bank up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 4.43%, ITC down by 3.82%, Tata Motors down by 2.86%, GAIL India down by 2.20% and Tata Power down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, snapping seven consecutive monthly cuts since August, Oil marketing Companies (OMCs) hiked jet fuel prices, which constitute 40% of an airline’s operating cost, by steep 8.2% or Rs 3,849.97 per kilolitre to Rs 50,363 per kl in country’s national capital, Delhi. Prior to latest hike, ATF price had been cut by Rs 23,648.73 or 33% in seven reductions since August 2014. Even after today's hike, jet fuel rates continue to remain lowest since February 2011.

Simultaneously, the oil firms also hiked the price of non-subsidized or market-priced domestic cooking gas (LPG) by Rs 5 to Rs 610 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi. The increase comes on back of seven straight reductions in rates of non-subsidized or market-priced LPG since August. The current quota of subsidized rates remains to be 12 cylinders/ per year. A subsidized LPG refill currently costs Rs 417 in Delhi. Notably, in the seven monthly reductions, non-domestic LPG rates had been slashed by Rs 317.50 per cylinder, bringing the price to a three-year low.

State-owned fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) have revised jet fuel and non-subsidised LPG prices on the first of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rate.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8893.60, down by 8.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8889.80 and 8972.35. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 4.31%, Ultratech Cement up by 4.09%, Axis Bank up by 3.29%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.22% and ACC up by 2.98%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 4.01%, ITC down by 3.93%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 3.91%, Tata Motors down by 2.86% and Bank Of Baroda down by 2.43% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets are trading in green, KOSPI Index was up by 11.01 points or 0.55% to 1,996.81, Shanghai Composite gained 14.71 points or 0.44% to 3,325.01, Jakarta Composite added 18.78 points or 0.34% to 5,469.07, Nikkei 225 was up by 28.94 points or 0.15% to 18,826.88 and Hang Seng was higher by 54.5 points or 0.22% to 24,877.79.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted was down by 20.74 points or 0.22% to 9,601.36, Straits Times lost 5.32 points or 0.16% to 3,397.54 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.55 points or 0.19% to 1,817.66.