Markets drift lower on profit taking in blue chips

Indian markets have given up most of their initial gains and were trading flat in the early noon session. Traders have turned a bit cautious on sluggish global cues and lacking any supportive one from the domestic front. Nifty that has recovered from its more than four months low and below 200 DMA was once again drifting lower, led by declines in blue chips on continued worries about retrospective taxes and lower-than-expected January-March earnings so far. Traders have even ignored the report that the foreign direct investment (FDI) in India jumped about 63 percent to $3.28 billion in February, 2015, compared to FDI of $ 2.01 billion in same period last year. On the sectoral front, while, there is strength in rate sensitive banking, auto and realty stocks sharp selling in IT and technology along with defensive FMCG was dragging the markets towards negative territory. Although the broader markets were trading in green but they too have given up substantial gains since morning.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27165.08, down by 11.91 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 27116.81 and 27365.72. 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 0.33%, while Small cap index gained 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.42%, Bankex up by 1.21%, Power up by 0.74%, PSU up by 0.27%, Realty up by 0.21%, while TECK down by 0.87%, FMCG down by 0.85%, IT down by 0.80%, Capital Goods down by 0.43%, Consumer Durables down by 0.29% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 5.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.94%, BHEL up by 2.12%, Tata Motors up by 1.68% and Axis Bank up by 1.65%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.69%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.68%, Infosys down by 1.31%, HDFC Bank down by 1.22% and ITC down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government has got a reason to cheer with foreign direct investment (FDI) in India surging about 63 percent to $3.28 billion in February, 2015, compared to FDI of $ 2.01 billion in same period last year. Government has already relaxed FDI norms in various sectors, including insurance, railways and medical devices, to boost FDI in the country, as it require around $ 1 trillion investment over five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector.

As per the data of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the April-February period of 2014-15, the foreign fund inflows grew by 39 percent, year-on-year, to $ 28.81 billion, compared to inflows of 20.76 billion during the same period a year ago.

Sector wise, services received the maximum FDI of $ 2.88 billion in the 11-month period of 2014-15, followed by telecommunication worth $ 2.85 billion, automobiles $2.42 billion, computer software and hardware $2.04 billion and pharmaceuticals worth $1.30 billion.

Region wise, India once again received the maximum FDI from Mauritius worth $8.44 billion, followed by Singapore $6.42 billion, the Netherlands $ 3.29 billion, Japan $ 1.72 billion and the US worth $1.69 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8215.45, up by 1.65 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8185.15 and 8264.25. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 5.46%, BPCL up by 3.09%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.87%, BHEL up by 2.43% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.33%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.59%, HCL Tech. down by 1.57%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.53%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.48% and ITC down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in red barring the Japanese Nikkei 225, which increased by 75.63 points or 0.38% to 20,058.95.

On the other hand, Hang Seng declined by 80 points or 0.28% to 28,353.59, Jakarta Composite lost 52.69 points or 1% to 5,192.75, Shanghai Composite was down by 39.5 points or 0.87% to 4,487.90, Straits Times was lower by19.74 points or 0.56% to 3,496.11, Taiwan Weighted lost 16.29 points or 0.16% to 9,956.83, KOSPI Index declined by 9.87 points or 0.46% to 2,147.67 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 5.69 points or 0.31% to 1,853.89.