Markets pare some losses but continue to trade in red

Indian markets have pared some of their early losses but the ripple effects of the Chinese currency devaluation continued impacting the global as well as the local markets for the second straight day. Nifty was still trading below its crucial 200-days moving average, though the major fall got restricted but the recovery is slow and lots of sectoral indices are still in deep red. Traders apart from the global jitters also remained concerned about the domestic political development with little likelihood for passage of the goods and services tax bill in the remaining two days of the monsoon session. Traders are of view that if the GST Bill is not cleared in today's session then market could fell further. The rupee weakness too has impacted the sentiments, extending its recent slide, rupee depreciated over 1 per cent in early trades on Wednesday to its lowest level hit since September 2013. The global trends too remained weak, and the regional peers were inching for another fall, Singapore stocks tumbled, posting its biggest decline since October 2011 amid concerns China’s currency devaluation will hurt bank earnings and slow economic growth. Back home, the broader markets too, continued to trade in red and the metal pack despite showing some positive reaction to a news report that the government is planning to raise import duty on base metals including iron and steel by 2.5% to protect the domestic industry, continue to trade with loss of around 2%.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27780.45, down by 85.64 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 27628.78 and 27883.33. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.99%, while Small cap index lost 0.51%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.44%, TECK up by 1.69%, Consumer Durables up by 1.57%, while Realty down by 2.68%, Oil & Gas down by 2.42%, Metal down by 1.81%, PSU down by 1.80%, Auto down by 1.43% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 4.10%, Tata Steel up by 3.52%, Infosys up by 3.21%, TCS up by 2.46% and Wipro up by 2.30%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.64%, Vedanta down by 3.92%, Tata Motors down by 3.16%, Coal India down by 2.85% and Bharti Airtel down by 2.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after garnering over Rs 2 lakh crore from auction of mines earlier this year, government got a good start on the first day of third tranche of coal mines auctions, garnering total of Rs 2,529 crore from bidding of two blocks in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Crest Steel and Power, a Topworth Group entity, emerged as the highest bidder for Bhaskarpara mine in Chhattisgarh at Rs 755 a tone, which will fetch the government Rs 1,817 crore. The extractable reserves of the Bhaskarpara coal block is 24.06 million tonnes (MT). Bhaskarpara mine was earlier jointly alloted to Electrotherm (India) and Grasim Industries.

Topworth Urja and Metal were the highest bidder at Rs 715 per tonne for Marki Mangli 1 coal block and will fetch the government Rs 712 crore. The extractable reserves of Marki Mangli-I mine are 9.96 MT and it was earlier allocated to B S Ispat.

In the third round of coal auction 22 applications from companies including Hindalco , Vedanta, JSW Steel  and SAIL  cleared the initial stages for a total of five mines on block. Three companies -- Crest Steel and Power, Godawari Natural Resources Ltd and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) technically qualified for the Bhaskarpara Coal Mine. Hindalco Industries, JSPL and Vedanta technically qualified for the Chitarpur Coal Mine whereas Bhushan Power & Steel, Hindalco Industries, JSPL and Vedanta technically qualified for the Jamkhani Coal Mine. The highest number of six bids each were received for Majra coal block in Maharastra and Jamkhani coal mine in Odisha, while Chitarpur mine in Jharkhand received five bids.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8427.30, down by 35.05 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 8382.35 and 8446.95. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 4.04%, Tata Steel up by 3.10%, Infosys up by 2.78%, TCS up by 2.45% and HCL Tech. up by 2.31%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.95%, Hindalco down by 4.75%, Vedanta down by 3.80%, Coal India down by 2.85% and NMDC down by 2.77% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red, Hang Seng slumped by 509.78 points or 2.08% to 23,988.43, Nikkei 225 plunged by 327.98 points or 1.58% to 20,392.77, Jakarta Composite declined by 122.91 points or 2.66% to 4,499.68, Taiwan Weighted lost 110.76 points or 1.32% to 8,283.38, Straits Times was down by 82.65 points or 2.62% to 3,070.41, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by 23.23 points or 1.42% to 1,613.48, KOSPI Index was down by 11.18 points or 0.56% to 1,975.47 and Shanghai Composite was tad lower by 5.28 points or 0.13% to 3,922.63.