Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in the late morning session as many investors were staying away from making big bets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week and others were worried about weak economic data from China. Though, the key gauges made some attempts to claw back into the green zone in early trades but profit booking at higher levels dragged them lower. Sentiments remained down-beat on the report that India is headed towards the driest monsoon season for the third time in three decades. Renewing concerns over poor harvest and spike in food inflation, the monsoon rainfall deficit so far has widened to 16 percent, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).  Beside, weak trend in Asian stocks coupled with depreciation in rupee also weighed on the sentiment.

On the global front, Asian markets struggled on Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, while the yen edged higher after the Bank of Japan refrained from any new policy steps.  Back home, Indian rupee fell 5 paise to 66.38 against the dollar in early trade due to fresh dollar demand from importers.

Back on street, stocks from FMCG, Realty and Infrastructure counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Metal, Capital Goods and Teck counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, share of Maruti Suzuki gained after the Reserve Bank of India allowed foreign investors to invest up to 40 per cent of the paid up capital in the auto maker under the Portfolio Investment Scheme. Alok Industries rallied after the company received an additional advance amounting to $50 million on September 11, 2015 under the Export Performance Bank Guarantee Scheme (EPBG).

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2066 stocks traded, 964 stocks advanced, while 1008 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25756.61, down by 100.09 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 25745.17 and 25909.83. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.28%, while Small cap index was lower by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.52%, Realty up by 0.48% and Infrastructure up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 1.27%, Capital Goods down by 1.23%, Bankex down by 0.65%, Consumer Durables down by 0.58% and Auto down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.36%, Sun Pharma up by 0.68%, NTPC up by 0.68%, ITC up by 0.65% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 3.05%, Tata Steel down by 2.80%, Vedanta down by 2.77%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.98% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Gujarat has ranked on top among others Indian states for bringing in reforms to improve ease of doing business with a score of 71.14 per cent, closely followed by Andhra Pradesh coming second at 70.12% and Jharkhand in the third position, according to the report prepared by World Bank. Sponsored by the Department of Industry Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the “Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms” report was prepared by World Bank in association with KPMG, industry chambers CII and FICCI.

The study assessed the states on various key parameters which includes setting up of business, allotment of land, labour reforms and procedure for environmental clearance, infrastructure, procedure for registration for tax purposes and inspections for compliance of various norms. Gujarat has a 100 per cent score for complying with environment procedures while Jharkhand has got 100 per cent for that on labour regulations.

The list of top ten states in India providing a better climate for businesses includes Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odhisa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. West Bengal occupied 11th slot, Tamil Nadu 12th, Haryana 14th, Delhi 15th, Punjab 16th, Himachal Pradesh 17th, Kerala 18th, Goa 19th and Bihar at the 21st spot. On the other hand at the bottom of the index were Mizoram, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

According to the report, only the states with implementation status of 75% and above would attain leaders status, unfortunately, none of the Indian status qualified for the same. While only seven states with the implementation status between 50-75 percent attained “aspiring leader status”, there are nine with implementation status of 25-50 per cent attained “acceleration required”. However, 16 states with 0-25 percent came under the implementation status list, which are in the “jump start needed” status.

At present, India is ranked 142nd among 189 nations in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business 2015'. The government wants India to break into the top 50 at the earliest and expects to make it to the top 100 in the next ranking.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7837.30, down by 34.95 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 7829.35 and 7880.00. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 1.46%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.38%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.26%, Power Grid Corpn up by 0.98% and Sun Pharma up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Hindalco industries down by 3.18%, Vedanta down by 3.06%, Tata Steel down by 3.02%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.04% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Shanghai Composite lost 2.53%, Hang Seng declined by 0.29%, Taiwan Weighted lost 0.72%, Jakarta Composite was down by 1.22% and Straits Times was lower by 0.89%. On the other hand, KOSPI Index was up by 0.29%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.87% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 0.48%.