Benchmarks continue to trade lower in a tight range

Indian markets continue to move in tight range, there is no respite for the major indices, which lost their way since beginning of the trade and were down by around half a percent, with frontline gauges trading below their crucial 8,450 (Nifty) and 27,900 (Sensex) levels. There are no cues for the markets to give any direction in either way and the traders remained cautious after private weather forecaster Skymet has reported that though rains were 16% above normal in month of June, they came down by 10% from the normal in the first week of July. Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. After four days of rise, the rupee turned weak and declined by 18 paise to 63.62 against the US currency in noon session at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to the dollar's gain against other currencies overseas.

Global cues too remained sluggish,  European counters have made an awful start with CAC, DAX and FTSE all trading with a deep cut in red. Asian markets were trading lower at this point of time with result of Greek voters rejecting more austerity demands from creditors, fuelled fears that the country will crash out of the Eurozone and has weighed heavily on the equity markets across the globe, triggering selling by participants. Back home, on the sectoral front, healthcare and oil and gas witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal, consumer durables and banking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were exhibiting mixed trend, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,185 shares on the gaining side against 1,244 shares on the losing side while 100 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27893.61, down by 199.18 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 27774.80 and 27946.68. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.08%, while Small cap index up by 0.21%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.86% and Oil & Gas up by 0.13%, while Metal down by 1.74%, Consumer Durables down by 1.41%, Bankex down by 0.96%, Infrastructure down by 0.78% and TECK down by 0.75% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.31%, Cipla up by 2.38%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.40%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.24% and Wipro up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 5.65%, Tata Steel down by 2.39%, Hindalco down by 2.22%, Tata Motors down by 2.16% and ICICI Bank down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has cautioned Indian exporters that they need to look for opportunities outside the troubled Euro Zone to minimise risks, as over-dependence on markets like the Euro Zone was becoming risky.

Pravir Kumar, Director General of Foreign Trade, said that the Euro Zone comprises 18-19 per cent of exports, adding that we want our exporters to look for opportunities in other markets as well and take advantage of the free trade agreements. He said exporters should now tap and diversify into the markets in Latin America, CIS nations and Africa, adding that, “This is the focus of the new foreign trade policy”. In his view, Indian exporters will also do well by focusing on the countries with which India has a free trade agreement (FTA).

DGFT also said that although there are resource constraints, the country's foreign trade department is passing over the money it is receiving from the union commerce ministry as incentives to the exporters. He added that the Revenue Department is working on a process of a single window clearance to ease the processes for the exporters. “Around 90 per cent of the processes would be digitised within the next couple of months. Recently DGFT launched an app on the android platform which will give exporters an easy access to relevant information and services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8432.05, down by 52.85 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 8386.15 and 8443.80. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.38%, BPCL up by 2.90%, Cipla up by 2.30%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.44% and Ambuja Cement up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 5.63%, NMDC down by 2.89%, Tata Steel down by 2.47%, Hindalco down by 2.26% and Cairn India down by 2.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng tumbled 942.61 points or 3.62% to 25,121.50, Nikkei 225 declined 427.67 points or 2.08% to 20,112.12, Taiwan Weighted dropped 102.27 points or 1.09% to 9,255.96, Jakarta Composite decreased 59.76 points or 1.2% to 4,923.15, KOSPI Index shed 50.48 points or 2.4% to 2,053.93, Straits Times dipped 32.83 points or 0.98% to 3,309.90 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 23.64 points or 1.36% to 1,710.60. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 58.9 points or 1.6% to 3,745.82.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX lost 1.87%, France’s CAC dropped 2.22% and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 1.18%.