Benchmarks trim gains; trade hovers near neutral line

Indian equity markets trimmed gains and started oscillating near neutral line in late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure after growth in India’s manufacturing activities fell to a five-month low in February, mainly because of subdued output and new orders, showed the widely tracked HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). Manufacturing PMI, at 52.9 the previous month, in February declined to 51.2 points - the lowest since September last year. Traders were seen piling positions in Capital Goods, Power and Bankex stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Consumer Durables and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) was trading in green after touching fresh 52-week high after Arun Jaitly in his Budget speech proposed to merge Forward Market Commission (FMC) with SEBI. Bajaj Auto was trading under pressure on reporting weak auto sales number in February. It reported a 21% decline in motorcycle sales at 216,077 units in February 2015. The company had sold 273,323 units in the year ago period.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were too trading mostly on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,950 and 29,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1311:1364 while 102 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29339.55, down by 21.95 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 29259.77 and 29576.32. 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 1.00%, while Small cap index up by 0.70%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 3.33%, Power up by 1.52%, Bankex up by 1.42%, INFRA up by 0.41%, PSU up by 0.30% while, FMCG down by 2.19%, Consumer Durables down by 1.55%, Auto down by 0.79%, Realty down by 0.75%, Metal down by 0.62% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 4.52%, Axis Bank up by 4.48%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.18%, Cipla up by 3.45% and NTPC up by 2.28%. On the flip side, ITC down by 4.46%, Bajaj Auto down by 4.02%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.32% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the claims of devising a transparent e-auction process through which all the coal blocks are being allocated, the government has 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 “prima facie discrepancies” including questions over the bid prices.

The companies impacted are Balco, JSPL and BS Ispat, while Balco had bagged Gare Palma IV/1 block with a bid of Rs 1,585 a tonne Jindal Power, a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power, had retained its previously held blocks Gare Palma IV 2 & 3 at Rs 108 a tonne. BS Ispat has won the Marki Mangli III block at Rs 918 per tonne. These four mines are among the 19 operational blocks the government auctioned off in the first phase of e-auction.

The auctions for 19 blocks were completed by February 22, but the final agreements are yet to be signed and if some tampering is found in the bid process, the blocks may be re-auctioned.

The coal ministry meanwhile has received 107 applications from different public sector undertakings for allocation of 43 coal blocks to be given to state-run firms. Of the 43 mines, 42 are for power sector and one is for steel sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8916.10, up by 14.25 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8885.45 and 8972.35. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 7.01%, Grasim Industries up by 6.17%, Axis Bank up by 4.51%, BHEL up by 4.37% and BPCL up by 4.33%. On the flip side, ITC down by 4.41%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.70%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 3.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.37% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.35% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 11.01 points or 0.55% to 1,996.81, Jakarta Composite increased 23.03 points or 0.42% to 5,473.32, Shanghai Composite increased 25.98 points or 0.78% to 3,336.29, Nikkei 225 increased 28.94 points or 0.15% to 18,826.88 and Hang Seng increased 64.15 points or 0.26% to 24,887.44.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 20.74 points or 0.22% to 9,601.36, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.23 points or 0.4% to 1,813.98 and Straits Times decreased 4.76 points or 0.14% to 3,398.10.

The Europeans market were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 24.03 points or 0.35% to 6,970.69, Germany’s DAX increased 47.24 points or 0.41% to 11,448.90 while, France’s CAC decreased 3.42 points or 0.07% to 4,948.06.