Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the late morning session as funds and retail investors engaged in reducing positions amid subdued cues from the global front. The sentiments remained dampened as the services sector which contributes about 60 percent to country's gross domestic product, has witnessed a decline of 4.5 percent in its export to $ 13.01 billion in April 2015 as compared to $13.63 billion during April 2014. Further, investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of  a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary committee starting later in the day. However, losses remained capped with the report that good rainfall has so far been recorded over southern peninsula, central India and east and northeast India this summer with over 13 per cent above the normal limit.

On global front, Asian stocks slipped as financial markets braced for the possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt, while a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary committee starting later in the day also prompted caution. Back home, Indian rupee pulled back 9 paise to 64.07 against the dollar in early trade, snapping its three-day falling streak on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

Back on street, stocks from PSU, Oil & Gas and IT counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables, Banking and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Biocon have surged after Syngene International, research arm of biotechnology major, has received Securities Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval to launch an initial public offer (IPO). Furthermore, Suven Life Sciences rose on securing three product patents in Israel, Macau and USA.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2101 stocks traded, 855 stocks advanced, while 1141 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26506.66, down by 79.89 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 26461.49 and 26597.28. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index down by 0.07%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.27%, Oil & Gas up by 0.21%, IT up by 0.06%, TECK up by 0.03% and Capital Goods up by 0.01% while, Consumer Durables down by 0.49%, Bankex down by 0.40%, FMCG down by 0.30%, Realty down by 0.27% and Power down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 0.69%, Coal India up by 0.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.53%, Tata Power up by 0.49% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.33%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.68%, Cipla down by 1.46%, BHEL down by 1.09%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.91% and ICICI Bank down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, government in its constant initiative of simplifying business environment and attracting foreign fund flow has initiated an extensive survey on ‘ease of doing business’ in states with an objective of improving the business climate of the country. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has circulated a set of 285 questions to all the states in this regard.

India is currently ranked 142nd among 189 nations in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business 2015 study, while the DIPP's assessment framework for state level reforms enabling ease of doing business 2015 has said that India's overall ranking and the individual rankings in various parameters clearly show that India is in urgent need of reforms to unlock the huge economic potential of the nation and the reforms need to be initiated at various levels across centre, state and local governments.

The key objectives of the DIPP survey are to assess the implementation of various factors enabling ease of doing business in a state and to do a comparative study of states with regards to the implementation status. DIPP has also circulated a document with recommendations for states on aspects critical to enabling ease of doing business and highlights good practices in various areas that need to be institutionalised by states to improve their investment eco-system.

The state governments have to submit by June 20 final responses to the questionnaire. Responses have been sought on any centralised help-line number to facilitate queries regarding the application and approval process and any 'change of land use' provided as a service through the single window system. The questionnaire also include queries on land banks available for industrial use, digitised land records at local municipality office and provision for e-filing for commercial disputes at district courts, among others.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7989.00, down by 24.90 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 7972.75 and 8010.50. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.74%, PNB up by 0.88%, Wipro up by 0.76%, Tata Power up by 0.62% and Coal India up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.02%, Idea Cellular down by 1.79%, HDFC down by 1.67%, Cipla down by 1.40% and BHEL down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were mostly trading in red; Nikkei 225 was down by 0.51%, Hang Seng down by 0.34%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.34%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.71%, KOSPI Index down by 0.81% and Straits Times was down by 0.68%. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 0.08% and Jakarta Composite was up by 0.4%.