Benchmarks continue to trade southward in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their southward journey in noon deals as investors opted to book profit after three days of rally. Marketmen remained on sideline eying the monsoon session that begins today in the Parliament. The NDA government will introduce eight new bills and take up 11 pending bills, including the controversial Land bill and the GST bill, for consideration and passage. Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. Rupee was trading at 63.53 per dollar as compared with its previous close of 63.47 per dollar. Further, the progress of monsoons will be closely watched by the market participants. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the total rainfall for the country so far has been 6% below the Long Period Average (LPA).

On the global front, European counters have made a positive start, CAC, DAX and FTSE all were trading in green in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time as investors remained cautious with Greek banks set to reopen later in the day after being closed for three weeks. Back home, on the sectoral front, healthcare, oil and gas and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while realty, banking and public sector undertaking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were trading in green, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,328 shares on the gaining side against 1,140 shares on the losing side while 116 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28331.12, down by 132.19 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 28319.83 and 28549.13. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index up by 0.10%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.30%, Oil & Gas up by 0.24%, TECK up by 0.05% and Consumer Durables up by 0.01%, while Realty down by 1.39%, Bankex down by 1.17%, PSU down by 0.51%, Capital Goods down by 0.49% and Power down by 0.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.22%, Hindalco up by 1.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.06%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.96% and TCS up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.84%, SBI down by 1.57%, Tata Motors down by 1.43%, BHEL down by 1.33% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, pitching for more investments in Railways has said that “The Indian economy will grow by 2 to 3 percent more with increased investments in the railways as reforms in transportation sector are vital to exploit full growth potential of the country.”

Prabhu said that the railways should be seen as a new medium of development for the country in future. He pointed that congestion was one of the main problems faced by the Indian railways, the minister added that doubling and tripling of the lines can happen only with a hike in investment in the sector.

He said that if the country's railway network is pumped with a massive investment to boost the connectivity, the Indian economy will register an increased growth by 2-3 per cent. He pointed that congestion was one of the main problems faced by the Indian railways.

The Railway Minister further disclosed that the tendering process of the railways and other commercial decisions were not being handled by the railway minister in the NDA government, as far as the delegation and decentralisation of power to the departments is concerned. He added that Railway minister now works only on policy execution. Decentralisation of power of decision making, if necessary, is in the interest of a transparent administration.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8565.00, down by 44.85 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 8559.00 and 8623.90. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.49%, Idea Cellular up by 1.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.31%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.29%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.87%, ACC down by 2.83%, PNB down by 2.80%, Tata Power down by 2.24% and Bank of Baroda down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 70.98 points or 0.78% to 8,975.00, Hang Seng slipped 24.95 points or 0.1% to 25,390.32, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 4.76 points or 0.28% to 1,721.97 and KOSPI Index was down by 3.48 points or 0.17% to 2,073.31.

On the flip side, Straits Times increased 13.09 points or 0.39% to 3,366.54 and Shanghai Composite was up by 52.36 points or 1.32% to 4,009.71.

European Markets were trading in the green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.08%, France’s CAC rose 0.29% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.16%.