Markets continue to trade lower in tight band

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade range bound in noon deals with marginal losses as investors opted to stay away from risky assets ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy review tomorrow. The sentiments were also under pressure with a survey by the Boston Consulting Group and apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry stating that at present rate of government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative, its target of creating 100 million jobs and achieving 25 percent of GDP from manufacturing sector by 2022 may be difficult to meet.

Weak opening in European counters too dampened the sentiments. CAC, DAX and FTSE all are trading lower with a cut of over half a percent in early deals. Asian markets are trading mostly in red at this point of time as more downbeat data from China weighed on sentiment ahead of the release of key economic indicators later in the week. Back home, on the sectoral front, realty, consumer durables and healthcare witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while metal, auto and software remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1321 shares on the gaining side against 1054 shares on the losing side while 128 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25821.05, down by 42.45 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 25738.54 and 25936.89. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.46%, Consumer Durables up by 1.80%, Healthcare up by 0.87%, Bankex up by 0.80% and FMCG up by 0.29%, while Metal down by 1.82%, Auto down by 0.68%, IT down by 0.60%, TECK down by 0.60% and Capital Goods down by 0.37% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 5.33%, Lupin up by 3.27%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.08%, SBI up by 1.44% and TCS up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.59%, Coal India down by 2.70%, Vedanta down by 2.46%, Infosys down by 2.43% and Sun Pharma down by 2.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to scale up inland waterways infrastructure in the country, the government is planning to offer 850 small and medium sized ports along key rivers for development by the private sector including foreign investors which could see investment of nearly Rs 4,000 crore. The government proposes to offer ports along the riverside systems of the Ganga, Brahmani, Brahmaputra, West Coast Canal, Godavari, Krishna and Barak for development. Most of these ports will fall along coal bearing routes making them commercially exploitable. The projects will be offered on the design, built, operate and transfer model.

The government is eyeing huge opportunity in transportation of coal to power plants along these rivers, having set an internal target of over 200 million tonnes. The shift of transportation of coal from railways to river ways will not only be environment friendly but also will bring down overall transportation cost. For 12 power projects along Ganga, coal could be transported through the river and goods can directly be exported to Bangladesh through waterways. Under the upcoming model concession agreement (MCA), the government is likely to offer a contract period of 30 years, making it a worthwhile proposal for private investment.

In order to develop inland transportation network, the government has already firmed up a plan to develop 101 inland waterways in different states that will require an estimated Rs 35,000 crore. Further, work has begun on three multi modal logistics hubs along the Ganga. Moreover, there is also a plan to set up satellite and dry ports to facilitate cargo movement through trains from states that don't have waterways.

Earlier, Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari had said that the inland waterways sector along with international ports will contribute over 1 per cent to the country's GDP in the next few years. Inland waterways in India make up a paltry 3 per cent of the total transport, compared with 47 per cent in China and 35 per cent in Bangladesh.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7860.30, down by 8.20 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 7831.35 and 7893.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 5.41%, Idea Cellular up by 3.30%, Lupin up by 3.21%, Yes Bank up by 2.61% and Adani Ports & Special up by 2.45%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.10%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.99%, Vedanta down by 2.82%, Coal India down by 2.65% and Sun Pharma down by 2.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 235.4 points or 1.32% to 17,645.11, Jakarta Composite declined 63.22 points or 1.5% to 4,146.22, Straits Times dropped 39.09 points or 1.38% to 2,793.55 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.81 points or 0.42% to 1,608.20 . On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 1.66 points or 0.05% to 3,094.00.

European Markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE lost 0.39%, France’s CAC declined 0.45% and Germany’s DAX was down by 0.24%.