Benchmarks trade lower in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks are trading in red in early deals on Tuesday as investors remained on sidelines ahead of data on industrial production for January and consumer price index for February scheduled to be announced on Thursday. However, losses remained capped as some support came in with OECD’s latest report, which has said that India’s economic growth is firming up, while projecting stable growth momentum for most major economies. Meanwhile, the government has said that proceeds from the ongoing coal block auctions are likely to cross Rs 2 lakh crore, surpassing CAG’s estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss.

On the global front, the US markets made some recovery and ended higher in last session mainly on the back of bargain buying after last week’s pullback. However, the trading remained somewhat subdued lacking any of major US economic data announcements. However, the Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time.

Back home, on the sectoral front, consumer durables, auto and capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while oil and gas, realty and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1200 shares on the gaining side against 726 shares on the losing side while 77 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28766.05, down by 78.73 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 28760.47 and 28949.11. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.31%, while Small cap index up by 0.63%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.92%, Auto up by 0.70%, Capital Goods up by 0.55%, Healthcare up by 0.54% and Bankex up by 0.20% while, Oil & Gas down by 0.94%, Realty down by 0.82%, IT down by 0.58%, TECK down by 0.29% and FMCG down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.65%, BHEL up by 1.65%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.51%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.47%, Wipro down by 2.08%, GAIL India down by 1.69%, ONGC down by 1.65% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, strengthening the national auditor’s claims that allocation of mines over the years had caused considerable losses to the exchequer, the government has garnered Rs 5164 crore from the sale of two mines to Jaypee Cement and Ambuja Cement, with the cumulative proceeds from the auction swelling to Rs 1.57 lakh crore.

In a fierce biddings on the fourth day of second tranche of ongoing auctions, which lasted for hours, while Ambuja Cement managed to clinch Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8 block in Chhattisgarh by biddng Rs 2291 per tonne, Jaypee Cement Corporation grabbed Mandla-South block in Madhya Pradesh, by bidding at Rs 1852 per tonne. Auction for Mandla South, began at Rs 1,850 per tonne, while for Gare Palma IV/8 started at Rs. 1,675 per tonne.

Put together in these four days of auction, the government has raised Rs 1.57 lakh crore, which includes Rs 1 lakh crore from auction of 19 mines in the first round. Additionally, two more coal blocks - Utkal C and Lohari - have been put up for auction on Monday. The amount of proceeds has been calculated based on extractable reserves and highest bid price.

The auctions follow the Supreme Court's decision last year to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this month  raised some doubts after he underscored CAG's astronomical Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss figure in coal block allocation, but with auction of less than 10% of those mines (19 mines in first tranche) alone  that has garnered Rs 1.10 lakh crore has proved these claims to be right.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8740.85, down by 15.90 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 8734.75 and 8771.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 1.72%, Coal India up by 1.71%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.63%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.58% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.47%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.46%, Wipro down by 2.11%, GAIL India down by 1.79%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.64% and ONGC down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1 points or 0.06% to 1,792.74, Straits Times rose 4.94 points or 0.15% to 3,409.51 and Jakarta Composite was up by 15.91 points or 0.29% to 5,460.54. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 107.45 points or 0.45% to 24,015.60, Nikkei 225 slipped 86.22 points or 0.46% to 18,704.33 Taiwan Weighted decreased 19.28 points or 0.2% to 9,543.70, KOSPI Index shed 3.61 points or 0.18% to 1,989.21 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.6 points or 0.11% to 3,298.81.