Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in late morning session as discouraging cues from other Asian bourses and unwinding pressure ahead of the impending April derivatives expiry seem to be spooking the market participants. Besides, capital outflows by foreign investors on MAT worries, depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar and lower-than-expected Q4 earnings posted by some blue-chip companies too negatively impacted sentiment. Meanwhile, investors failed to draw any sense of relief with the report that FDI inflows in the manufacturing sector rose by almost 45% from the period of October, 2014 - February, 2015 at $6,916.99 million compared to $ 4,770.94 million in the same period in the previous financial year. The broader markets were also trading weak in tandem with the benchmark indices, the midcap and smallcap indices losing over 0.15% each.

On global front, Asian stocks stumbled on Thursday after US data overnight showed the economy grew much more slowly than expected in the first quarter. The Commerce Department said that the US economy grew at an annualised rate of 0.2 percent in January-February, far short of the 1.0 percent projected by street. The result is the latest indicating weakness in the world's number one economy. Back home, Indian rupee weakened by 28 paise to 63.58 against the US dollar in early trade due to month-end demand for the American currency from importers amid capital outflows.

Back on street, stocks from Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Realty counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Metal, information technology (IT) and Capital Goods counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Sesa Sterlite declined after the company posted a steep fall of 72.5% in adjusted profit at Rs 491 crore for the quarter ended March 2015 as compared to profit of Rs 1,788.65 crore in the corresponding period previous year. On the other hand, shares of Biocon have gained after the company reported a 78% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2015 to Rs 201 crore.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2062 stocks traded, 887 stocks advanced, while 1085 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26970.44, down by 255.49 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 26924.17 and 27242.05. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.19%, while Small cap index down by 0.31%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.63%, Oil & Gas up by 0.25%, Realty up by 0.17% and Bankex up by 0.10% while, Metal down by 1.90%, TECK down by 1.30%, IT down by 1.25%, Capital Goods down by 0.98% and infrastructure down by 0.86% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 4.39%, Reliance Industries up by 0.44%, SBI up by 0.28% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.11%, Coal India down by 2.94%, HDFC down by 2.85%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.51% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving a major boost to the Smart Cities Mission, the Union Cabinet Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Central government spending worth Rs 98,000 crore under two new urban missions over the next five years. The Smart Cities Mission - under which 100 smart cities would be built, with outlays of Rs 48,000 crore and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 500 cities with an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore, respectively.

In the Smart Cities Mission, each selected city would get central assistance of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. Cities to be developed will be selected through a ‘competition’ intended to ascertain their ability to achieve mission objectives. Each state will shortlist a number of smart city aspirants, which will prepare proposals for the Centre. The Mission of building 100 smart cities intends to promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets, resources and infrastructure with the objective of enhancing the quality of urban life and providing a clean and sustainable environment.

AMRUT, the new avatar of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), which seeks to lay a foundation to enable cities and towns to eventually grow into smart cities, will be implemented in 500 locations with a population of one lakh and above. These include cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few capital cities and important cities located in hilly areas and tourist spots. Under this mission, states will get flexibility of designing schemes that best suit their needs. States will only submit annual action plans to the Centre for broad concurrence, based on which funds will be released. But in a significant departure from the JNNURM, the Centre will not appraise individual projects.

Smart Cities Council India has hailed the government's decision to approve 100 Smart City projects and new urban renewal mission, saying that this would accelerate the growth in the economy. It has further said that it is a great move by the Cabinet as cities are engines of the growth. They contribute 60 per cent plus to the GDP.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8167.45, down by 72.30 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 8147.45 and 8229.40. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 4.66%, BPCL up by 2.22%, Lupin up by 1.59%, Yes Bank up by 1.28% and Reliance Industries up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.09%, HDFC down by 2.94%, Coal India down by 2.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.72% and HCL Tech. down by 2.60% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 declined 2.67%, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.12%, Hang Seng decreased 0.93%, KOSPI Index dropped 0.7%, Straits Times shed 0.36%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 0.54% and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.1%. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.03%.