Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Investors have maintained a cautious approach ahead of the 21-day Monsoon Session that begins from tomorrow 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. The downside was however capped after Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu stated that the Indian economy will register an increased growth by 2-3 percent if the country’s railway network is pumped with a massive investment to boost the connectivity. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and TECK sector stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Bankex and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) was locked at upper circuit limit on report that Tata Group has offered to buy out the stake of Japan’s NTT Docomo at Rs 23.34 a share. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in gems and jewellery stocks like Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, Shree Ganesh Jewellery, Gitanjalli Gems and PC Jewellers were trading firm amid a continuous fall in the yellow metal prices overseas.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,600 and 28,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1424:1207 while 119 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28350.11, down by 113.20 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 28319.83 and 28549.13. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.24%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.47%, Oil & Gas up by 0.20%, TECK up by 0.19% and IT up by 0.11%, while Realty down by 1.24%, Bankex down by 0.96%, PSU down by 0.50%, Metal down by 0.42%, Power down by 0.40% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 1.63%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.09%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.03%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.02% and TCS up by 0.41%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.74%, SBI down by 1.49%, Axis Bank down by 1.43%, BHEL down by 1.35% and Coal India down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari  has said that as a part of efforts to boost road infrastructure for faster connectivity, the Centre is planning to start work on 10 world-class express highways on the pattern of Mumbai-Pune Express Highway, which will not only reduce travel time but also propel country's economic growth. He also said that most of the proposed ten projects including the about Rs 6,000 crore 260-km Bengaluru-Chennai expressway will be concrete cement highways.

The proposed projects include Nagpur-Mumbai, Bangalore-Chennai, Baroda-Mumbai, Katra-Amritsar and Ludhiana-Delhi. Gadkari said that the Nagpur-Mumbai express highway, connecting two major cities Nagpur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra with capital city Mumbai, will also save significant time. Ludhiana-Delhi expressway is proposed on new alignment linking the national Capital with Ludhiana, which would also have a separate node to connect Chandigarh and the same is likely to reduce distance between Delhi and Ludhiana by 50 km.

The minister further stated that all these express highways are going to be world class matching the quality and specifications in advanced nations and once completed would result in huge savings in fuel cost. Gadkari said his Ministry is committed to contributing at least 2 per cent to the GDP besides aimed at reducing accidents by more than 50 per cent in the next two years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8570.40, down by 39.45 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8559.00 and 8623.90. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 2.83%, Hindalco up by 1.77%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.26%, Idea Cellular up by 1.16% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.15%.

On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.84%, PNB down by 2.59%, Tata Power down by 2.44%, ACC down by 2.41% and Bank of Baroda down by 2.18% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 70.98 points or 0.78% to 8,975.00, Hang Seng decreased 10.46 points or 0.04% to 25,404.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.82 points or 0.28% to 1,721.91 and KOSPI Index decreased 3.48 points or 0.17% to 2,073.31.

On the other hand, Straits Times increased 18.54 points or 0.55% to 3,371.99 and Shanghai Composite increased 34.76 points or 0.88% to 3,992.11.

Japan stock exchange is closed on account of ‘Ocean Day’ holiday while Indonesia stock exchange is closed on account of ‘National Leave’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.6 points or 0.25% to 6,791.68, France’s CAC increased 36.53 points or 0.71% to 5,160.92 and Germany’s DAX increased 73.31 points or 0.63% to 11,746.73.