Choppiness continues on D-Street in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy in early noon session as participants cut down bets in view of the September series expiry in the derivatives segment amid a sluggish global trend. Depreciation in the rupee too dampened sentiment, the rupee fell further to 66.10 against the US dollar in early trade on sustained month-end demand for the American currency amid foreign fund outflows. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red; after fall in China' manufacturing sector to a six-and-a-half-year low, rekindling worries over the world's second-largest economy.

Back home, both sensex and Nifty were managing to hold their crucial 25700 and 7800 levels, respectively. Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, IT, Healthcare, TECK and Auto, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Capital Goods, Bankex, PSU and Oil & Gas. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2260 stocks traded, 1333 stocks advanced, while 839 stocks declined on the BSE.

In scrip specific development, share of NIIT was trading higher by over 4.50% following the company’s plan to establish European Delivery Centre in Dublin, creating 110 jobs over five years. The development is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA (Industrial Development Agency) Ireland. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) was trading up by over 2.80% after National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) awarded contract worth Rs 1,783.42 crore to the company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25761.78, down by 61.21 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 25670.96 and 25811.85. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.52%, while Small cap index gained 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.31%, IT up by 1.19%, TECK up by 1.07%, Auto up by 0.60% and Realty up by 0.53%, while Metal down by 1.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.89%, Bankex down by 0.77%, PSU down by 0.46%, Oil & Gas down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 3.25%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.51%, Infosys up by 1.11% and Cipla up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.76%, ONGC down by 2.31%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.65% and Vedanta down by 1.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, power Minister Piyush Goyal speaking at the India-US Ministerial Energy Dialogue held at the US Department of Energy, emphasised that India is committed to pursue a green path to growth and that India will provide 24x7 power across the country by 2019 by creating cost effective infrastructure which is sustainable and inclusive of clean energy solutions.

Goyal pointed out that India-US collaboration in the energy sector offer great potential, in view of India's enormous energy needs and the US' resources, capabilities and technology. He also welcomed US-based companies to invest in the Indian energy sector and invited them to also participate in India's unconventional hydrocarbons sector, especially in the field of exploration and exploitation of alternate energy sources such as shale oil, shale gas and gas hydrates.

During the dialogue it was pointed that substantial headway has been made for the development of new technologies for distributed power generation through solar thermal route and development of new tools for improved building energy efficiency codes. The need to develop a robust energy data management system to develop better simulation of the energy scenario in India in the future was also recognised.

The focus of the meeting revolved on various dimensions of clean energy in order to ensure that people have access to adequate and affordable energy for better quality of life and sustainable livelihood. It was also agreed to explore addition of smart grids and energy storage for grid application as the fourth stream under PACE - R.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7834.50, down by 11.45 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 7804.10 and 7848.45. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 3.24%, Lupin up by 3.20%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.97%, HCL Tech. up by 1.90% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.76%, ONGC down by 2.39%, Vedanta down by 1.84%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.75% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 432.48 points or 2.39% to 17,637.73, Hang Seng decreased 148.4 points or 0.7% to 21,154.51, Jakarta Composite decreased 99.62 points or 2.29% to 4,244.43, Taiwan Weighted decreased 70.32 points or 0.86% to 8,123.10, Straits Times decreased 22.73 points or 0.79% to 2,845.74 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 22.2 points or 1.36% to 1,613.17, while KOSPI Index increased 2.46 points or 0.13% to 1,947.10 and Shanghai Composite increased 19.87 points or 0.64% to 3,135.76.