Benchmarks trade lower in early deals, Sensex breaches 28,000 mark

Pressurized by feeble global cues, Indian equity benchmarks are trading lower in early deals on Thursday with frontline gauges declining below their crucial 28,000 (M&M) and 8,500 (Nifty) levels. The US markets suffered sharp sell-off in last session, which dragged the major averages below the levels seen before last week’s Federal Reserve-inspired rally. Traders’ sentiments were weighed down by a report showing unexpected drop in durable goods orders in the month of February. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time tailing the weak global cues, though some of the indices are showing recovery sign too, Chinese market after dropping initially has resumed its rally mood.

Back home, sentiment was also dampened as traders remained wary ahead of expiry of March series derivatives contracts later today. However, buying was witnessed in Infrastructure stocks, as the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, concerned over slow growth of manufacturing sector, has promised to step up public spending on infrastructure, ease entry barriers for overseas investors and push Goods and Services Tax (GST) to boost economic expansion.

On the sectoral front, power, infrastructure and capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while healthcare, banking and consumer durables 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 663 shares on the gaining side against 1,184 shares on the losing side while 77 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27912.60, down by 199.23 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 27885.86 and 27997.14. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.32%, while Small cap index down by 0.48%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.35%, Infrastructure up by 0.32%, Capital Goods up by 0.20%, FMCG up by 0.06% and Oil & Gas up by 0.02% while, Healthcare down by 0.90%, Bankex down by 0.87%, Consumer Durables down by 0.87%, Metal down by 0.76%, IT down by 0.48% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.76%, BHEL up by 1.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.83%, GAIL India up by 0.62% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.59%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.49%, Wipro down by 1.38%, ICICI Bank down by 1.34%, Coal India down by 1.30% and Sesa Sterlite down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government received commitments of Rs 109,000 crore from telecom operators at the end of 110th round of bidding on Tuesday, which was the 18th day of radio frequency spectrum e-auctions. This is higher compared to commitments worth Rs 105,000 crore received on the 17th day of the auction. With this, over 89% of spectrum has been provisionally allocated to bidders. The auction will continue as about some amount of spectrum is yet to be sold.

Robust bidding was witnessed in 900 MHz and 800 MHz band, with majority of service areas being sold at a premium over reserve price. However, DoT has barred from publishing final results without Supreme Court’s consent. A hearing in the apex court in this regard is scheduled for March 26.

In the 800 MHz, telecom players bid for Uttar Pradesh (West) circle, which was lying idle since the beginning of the auctions. The intensity was most in the Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and North East circles. In the 900 MHz, the intensity was seen most in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, North East, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (both East and West). Meanwhile, in the 1800 MHz, the intensity was most for Kolkata circle. However, still no bidding was witnessed for Karnataka and Tamil Nadu circles for the 800 MHz.

The biggest ever auction of spectrum in the 800, 900, 1,800, and 2,100 MHz bands had started on March 4. In the current round of auction, the government is selling a total of 380.75 MHz of spectrum in the premium, 900 MHz band, 800 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands, and 5 MHz in the 2,100-MHz band across 17 of the 22 telecom areas of the circles in the country. The government had initially estimated to earn between Rs 80,000 crore and Rs 1 lakh crore from the sale of radio waves. However, this seems to be way above estimates, with the counting still continuing. From the last spectrum auction held in February 2014, the government had raked in Rs 62,162 crore.

Notably, these commitments come over and above the Rs 200,000 crore that India Inc has already bid under the two phases of auctions for award of coal blocks. But the proceeds from this auction will go to the respective state governments over 30 years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8467.85, down by 62.95 points or 0.74% after trading in a range of 8463.25 and 8499.45. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.71%, BPCL up by 1.51%, BHEL up by 1.33%, Power Grid up by 0.96% and GAIL India up by 0.82%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.53%, Wipro down by 1.72%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.65%, ACC down by 1.61% and ICICI Bank down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets trade mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 declined 266.53 points or 1.35% to 19,479.67, Taiwan Weighted decreased 70.34 points or 0.73% to 9,597.49, KOSPI Index shed 14.49 points or 0.71% to 2,028.32, Jakarta Composite slipped 3.86 points or 0.07% to 5,401.63 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.87 points or 0.1% to 1,817.23. On the flip side, Straits Times rose 10.29 points or 0.3% to 3,429.31, Shanghai Composite increased 12.02 points or 0.33% to 3,672.75 and Hang Seng was up by 33.59 points or 0.14% to 24,561.82.