Benchmarks trade in red; Power, IT drag

Indian equity markets once again started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The trade continued to remain choppy in a narrow range ahead of outcome of Federal Open Market Committee two-day meeting, with many expecting the central bank to pave the way to an interest-rate hike as early as this summer by removing the word patient from its statement. Traders were seen piling positions in Bankex, Metal and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Power, IT and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Tata Motors was trading in red as Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) February 2015 wholesale volumes fell 1 percent year-on-year. The auto major sold 38,541 units of JLR in the month.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,750 and 28,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1165:1287 while 112 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28727.65, down by 8.73 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 28599.88 and 28806.97. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.53%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.76%, Metal up by 0.59%, Oil & Gas up by 0.42%, Consumer Durables up by 0.34% and Realty up by 0.30% while, Power down by 0.81%, IT down by 0.25%, Auto down by 0.17%, INFRA down by 0.17% and TECK down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.62%, SBI up by 1.20%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.93%, HDFC Bank up by 0.92% and Reliance Industries up by 0.74%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.71%, BHEL down by 1.21%, ONGC down by 1.19%, Tata Motors down by 1.13% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid speculation of cartelisation during their bidding process in the coal block auctions, the government is re-examining the bids for nine coal blocks, including those where Jindal Steel and Balco emerged the top bidders, and a final decision on their fate would be taken by this weekend.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, though has said that the government wasn’t looking at cartelisation aspect at the moment and it was only re-examining and not reviewing, “because there was no decision taken. Review happens when you take a decision.” He further stated that if some irregularities are found the government can re auction the mines, it can allot the mines to the state or it can give the blocks to Coal India.

The bids of four coal blocks of the schedule II mines (ready to produce) which are being re-examined are Gare Palma IV 2, Gare Palma IV 3, Gare Palma IV-1 and Marki Mangli III, while for schedule III mines are Brinda and Sasai mine (one bid was invited for both the mines), Meral mine, Dumri mine, Tara mine and Mandla South mine.

Earlier, there were reports that some bidders could have indulged in cartelisation to keep the prices low for the concerned mines. So far, a total of 33 coal blocks have been auctioned in two tranches, while in the first lot 19 coal mines were auctioned, in the second lot 14 coal blocks went for sale.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8719.75, down by 3.55 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 8681.35 and 8747.25. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.17%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.64%, BPCL up by 1.78%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.59% and IDFC up by 1.46%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.64%, BHEL down by 1.64%, ACC down by 1.43%, ONGC down by 1.32% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.22% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 12.18 points or 0.68% to 1,800.05, Shanghai Composite increased 66.39 points or 1.9% to 3,569.23, Nikkei 225 increased 107.48 points or 0.55% to 19,544.48, Taiwan Weighted increased 113.99 points or 1.19% to 9,653.43 and Hang Seng increased 279.38 points or 1.17% to 24,180.87. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite decreased 16.54 points or 0.3% to 5,422.61, KOSPI Index decreased 1.46 points or 0.07% to 2,028.45 and Straits Times decreased 0.91 points or 0.03% to 3,369.04.