Markets remain in red on intermittent profit booking

Indian markets recovering from their early fall were making all round efforts to enter into the green, though there were intermittent profit booking that was restricting the benchmarks in a tight range and both the benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial psychological levels of 27500 and 8350 respectively. The drag in two heavy weights of their respective gauge Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors, after weak set of earnings was still weighing on the sentiments. Although there was some sign of recovery in the regional peers but volatility of the F&O expiry scheduled on Thursday has started appearing. Also, there was additional pressure of weakness in rupee, which continuing its decline for the third straight day, dropped below the 64 mark, as the American currency firmed up overseas on expectation of early rate hike by the US Fed. Back on street, while IT, auto and tech sectors were showing deep cuts, gains in consumer durables, oil & gas and banking sector stocks were restricting the markets from falling further. Broader markets too were trading lower but the magnitude is lower than the benchmarks.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27456.01, down by 75.40 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 27363.72 and 27549.03. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index lost 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.99%, PSU up by 0.77%, Oil & Gas up by 0.61%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Realty up by 0.33%, while IT down by 1.89%, Auto down by 1.81%, TECK down by 1.48%, INFRA down by 0.66%, Metal down by 0.21% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 1.45%, Axis Bank up by 1.29%, Coal India up by 1.25%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.21% and ONGC up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.94%, Infosys down by 2.45%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.86%, Wipro down by 1.84% and Vedanta down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has constituted a 10-member committee to be headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar, to revitalise the public private partnership (PPP) mode for infrastructure development. The panel has been entrusted to suggest ways on improving capacity building within the government for effective implementation of PPP projects.

The panel’s terms of reference of the committee include reviewing the experience of PPP policy, analysis of risks involved in such projects in different sectors and existing framework of sharing of such risks between project developer and government. It would also deliberate upon design modifications to contractual arrangements of PPP; examine international best practices as well as institutional context.

Among the other members of the committee are CS Rajan, chief secretary, Rajasthan government; SB Nayar, CMD, IIFCL; Shekhar Shah, director general, NCAER; Pradeep Kumar, MD, CBG, SBI; Vikram Limaye, MD, IDFC; PS Behuria, former IRS and Sudipto Sarkar, Barrister-at-law, Kolkata. It will have a representative, not below the rank of joint secretary, from the road ministry as its member, while Sharmila Chavaly, joint secretary, department of economic affairs, finance ministry will be the member secretary.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech for 2015-16 had made an announcement regarding re-visiting the existing PPP mode to execute such projects. The panel is likely to consult various stake holders in private sector, government sector, legal experts, banking/financial institutions and academia while firming up recommendations. The Committee has been asked to submit its report within three months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8312.50, down by 26.85 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 8277.95 and 8334.85. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.94%, Axis Bank up by 1.66%, PNB up by 1.66%, Idea Cellular up by 1.53% and Coal India up by 1.52%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 12.07%, Tata Motors down by 5.08%, Infosys down by 2.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.33% and Wipro down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Taiwan Weighted gained 24.13 points or 0.25% to 9,693.54, Nikkei 225 was up by 35.1 points or 0.17% to 20,472.58 and Shanghai Composite added 38.21 points or 0.78% to 4,949.10.

On the other hand, Hang Seng lost 187.62 points or 0.66% to 28,062.24, Straits Times declined by 42.64 points or 1.23% to 3,417.34, Jakarta Composite was down by 42.59 points or 0.8% to 5,278.31, KOSPI Index lost 36 points or 1.68% to 2,107.50 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 12.43 points or 0.7% to 1,751.64.