Choppiness continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals as investors remained on sidelines ahead of the US Fed rate decision later this week. Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiment. The rupee has depreciated by 9 paise at 66.42 against the US dollar on sustained bouts of dollar demand from banks and importers . Selling in Metal counter too weighed down sentiment as China's investment and factory output in August missed forecasts, raising concerns over the growth of world’s second largest economy, China. Investors also ignored better than expected inflation data. The consumer price index (CPI) declined to a nine-month low of 3.66 per cent in August from 3.69 per cent in July, but the rate of food price rise went up to 2.20 per cent from 2.15 per cent.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green in early deals. Asian markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time with Chinese market once again showing sharp cuts, however the Japanese market moving higher supported by weakening yen ahead of BOJ’s policy announcement. Back home, on the sectoral front, FMCG, healthcare and realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal, capital goods and consumer durables remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 996 shares on the gaining side against 1299 shares on the losing side while 97 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25738.25, down by 118.45 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 25703.54 and 25909.83. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.63%, while Small cap index down by 0.36%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.42%, Healthcare up by 0.11%, Realty up by 0.09% and IT up by 0.03%, while Metal down by 1.90%, Capital Goods down by 1.56%, Consumer Durables down by 1.17%, Auto down by 1.01% and Bankex down by 0.87% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.30%, NTPC up by 1.15%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.11%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.82% and ITC up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.31%, Tata Motors down by 3.00%, Hindalco down by 2.92%, Vedanta down by 2.57% and Larsen & Toubro down by 2.23% 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 7829.30, down by 42.95 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 7819.85 and 7880.00. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.04%, Cairn India up by 1.85%, Sun Pharma up by 1.18%, Power Grid up by 1.18% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.34%, Tata Motors down by 2.97%, Vedanta down by 2.91%, Hindalco down by 2.80% and Ambuja Cement down by 2.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 112.25 points or 3.6% to 3,002.55, Hang Seng decreased 111.16 points or 0.52% to 21,450.74, Jakarta Composite declined 53.49 points or 1.22% to 4,336.89, Taiwan Weighted dropped 47.3 points or 0.57% to 8,259.99 and Straits Times was down by 27.48 points or 0.96% to 2,843.99.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.35 points or 0.33% to 1,644.98, KOSPI Index rose 6.1 points or 0.32% to 1,937.56 and Nikkei 225 was up by 60.78 points or 0.34% to 18,026.48.

European Markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX gained 0.46% and UK’s FTSE was up by 0.07%, while France’s CAC was down by 0.30%.