Benchmarks make gap down opening amid weak global cues

Indian equity markets have made a gap-down opening and are trading in red on the back of weak global cues, as market participants keenly wait for US job data amid ongoing Greek debt crises. Investors’ sentiments also remained weak on report that FDI in India declined by sharp 40 per cent year-on-year to $2.11 billion in March 2015, compared to $3.53 billion in March 2014. Meanwhile, the session was weak for broader indices, which were trading with losses of around 0.10%. However, losses remained capped with statement of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who expressed confidence that trend of recovery in the Indian economy would continue and that there was no fear of monsoon affecting foodgrain production. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Healthcare, PSU and Capital, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Auto, FMCG, Consumer Durables and IT.

In scrip specific development, Just Dial was trading higher after the company’s board of directors approved the proposal to buyback the fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each of the company from the shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis through a tender offer (Buy-back). Coal India was trading higher after production of the company in May rose by about 13% as against the corresponding period previous year. While, Nestle India was trading lower after the company received a notification from Uttarakhand FDA to ban the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of MAGGI Noodles for a period of 90 days.

On the global Front, U.S. markets closed lower hit by nervousness ahead of Friday's jobs report and lingering uncertainty over a Greece aid deal with creditors. Asian markets are trading in red taking cues from the US markets and concerned about development in Europe, as Greece asked for a deferral on its debt payments, though the Chinese market was surging, extending its last session’s recovery.

Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,750 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 855:772 while 86 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26737.60, down by 75.82 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 26729.26 and 26819.82. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index was lower by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.85%, Healthcare up by 0.78%,PSU up by 0.31% and Capital Goods up by 0.24% while, Realty down by 1.40%, Auto down by 0.82%, FMCG down by 0.70%, Consumer Durables down by 0.61% and IT down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 4.18%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.98%, GAIL India up by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.78% and Wipro up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.86%, ITC down by 1.77%, Tata Steel down by 1.67%, Hindalco down by 1.20% and ONGC down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Oil ministry in its annual report has stated that India's natural gas output is likely to rise by 50 percent to 146.87 million standard cubic meters per day by 2018-19 on account of higher production from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) fields. The ministry further added that domestic gas production will rise from 98.15 mmscmd in 2014-15 to 99.87 mmscmd in the current fiscal.

The oil ministry further detailed that in 2016-17, the output will climb to 112.95 mmscmd and finally to 146.87 mmscmd in 2018-19. Bulk of the incremental output will come from ONGC which will see production rise to 65.75 mmsmd in 2014-15 to 96.38 mmscmd. ONGC production will include 4.66 mmscmd from New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) block KG-DWN-98/2 or KG-D5 in 2017-18 and 12.05 mmsmcd in 2018-19. The other state owned company Oil India will see gas production rise from 7.78 mmscmd last fiscal to 10.96 mmscmd in four years.

The ministry has projected the output from fields operated by private firms like Reliance Industries to rise from 24.62 mmscmd in 2014-15 to 39.53 mmscmd in 2018-19. It has further projected the demand to increase by nearly 30 per cent to 523 mmscmd in 2018-19 from 405 mmscmd in 2014-15. Gas demand is expected to climb 10 per cent in the current fiscal to 446 mmscmd.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8109.15, down by 21.50 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 8101.70 and 8135.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 4.13%, Sun Pharma up by 2.00%, GAIL India up by 1.76%, Idea Cellular up by 1.61% and NMDC up by 0.85%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.96%, Tata Steel down by 1.74%, Tata Motors down by 1.66%, Bosch down by 1.46% and Hindalco down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in the red; Jakarta Composite decreased 2.30 points or 0.05% to 5,093.52, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.10 points or 0.12% to 4,941.00, Taiwan Weighted decreased 37.65 points or 0.40% to 9,310.98, Hang Seng decreased 188.31 points or 0.68% to 27,363.58, Nikkei 225 decreased 99.89 points or 0.49% to 20,388.30, KOSPI Index decreased 3.62 points or 0.17% to 2,069.24 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.52 points or 0.09% to 1,739.96.