Market succumbs to selling pressure in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets lost their gains and started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from European markets. Traders were seen piling positions in Infra, Auto and Power stocks while, selling was witnessed in IT, Realty and Oil & Gas sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Jindal Steel & Power is trading in red after the government rejected its bids for three coal mines. The coal ministry on Saturday rejected four of 33 bids for coal mines after saying it would examine nine blocks whose low bids had made them outliers according to the government. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was trading in red after the Delhi High Court restrained the company from manufacturing and marketing anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,550 and 28,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 849:1867 while 107 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28198.97, down by 62.11 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 28195.72 and 28385.14. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.81%, while Small cap index down by 1.07%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were INFRA up by 0.39%, Auto up by 0.28%, Power up by 0.25% while, IT down by 0.87%, Realty down by 0.82%, Oil & Gas down by 0.75%, Consumer Durables down by 0.70%, Bankex down by 0.66% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.44%, Hindalco up by 2.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65%, GAIL India up by 1.18% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.96%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.91%, Reliance Industries down by 1.51%, Wipro down by 1.08%, SBI down by 1.04% and Infosys down by 0.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, on the last day of the first leg of Budget session, the government in a commendable act succeeded in the passage of two key reform bills the Mines and Minerals Bill and the Coal Mines Bill in Rajya Sabha. However, the celebrations would have been louder if it could succeed with the passage of another key legislation land acquisition bill, the fate of which now hangs in balance.

Nevertheless, paving the way for auction of blocks, the government managed to pass the mining and mineral bills even as opposition parties, notably the Congress, wanted it to be referred again to the relevant select committee. The bill was pressed for voting -117 members were in favour and 69 against it.

Meanwhile, the crucial bill that provides legal framework for auction of coal blocks was passed by Parliament, replacing an ordinance that was to expire on April 5. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 was passed with 107 members voting in favour and 62 against in the upper 245-member House where the ruling BJP-led coalition is in a minority.

The Coal Bill opens the sector for commercial mining and seeks to facilitate the auction of over 200 cancelled coal blocks. The legislation replaces an ordinance issued by the government on October 21 last year and then re-promulgated on December 26 after the Supreme Court cancelled allocation of 204 coal blocks terming the allocations as fatally flawed. Passage of the bill provides legal framework for the auction of the coal blocks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8549.35, down by 21.55 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 8547.85 and 8608.35. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.44%, Hindalco up by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.13%, Power Grid up by 1.52% and Grasim Industries up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 8.54%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.18%, BHEL down by 2.99%, NMDC down by 2.89% and Cairn India down by 2.68% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 2 points or 0.04% to 5,445.06, Straits Times increased 3.65 points or 0.11% to 3,416.09, Taiwan Weighted increased 8.4 points or 0.09% to 9,758.09, Shanghai Composite increased 70.41 points or 1.95% to 3,687.73, Hang Seng increased 119.27 points or 0.49% to 24,494.51 and Nikkei 225 increased 194.14 points or 0.99% to 19,754.36.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.29 points or 0.35% to 1,797.36 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.65 points or 0.03% to 2,036.59.

The euroepan markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 117.77 points or 0.98% to 11,921.60, France’s CAC decreased 35.16 points or 0.69% to 5,052.33 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.71 points or 0.32% to 6,999.80.