Benchmarks continue to reel under pressure; Sensex slips below 27,100 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continue to reel under pressure in noon deals with Sensex and Nifty declining below their crucial 27,100 and 8,200 marks, respectively. Traders remained cautious on penultimate session of the October F&O series expiry. Marketmen also remained on sideline ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meet outcome due later today. Traders failed to get any sense of relief from report that India now ranks 130th out of 189 countries in the ease of doing business, moving up 12 places from last year. Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. Rupee was trading at 65.03 per dollar at this point of time as compared with its previous close of 64.96.

On the global front, Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red at this point of time, taking cues from an overnight decline on Wall Street and capped by caution ahead of a policy statement from the US Federal Reserve due later in the day. Back home, on the sectoral front consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while consumer banking, public sector undertaking and power remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, managed to keep their head above water, while the market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 1,186 shares on the gaining side against 1,169 shares on the losing side while 169 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27,092.77, down by 160.67 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 27084.87 and 27163.98. 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 0.01%, while Small cap index up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.22%, FMCG up by 0.26%, TECK up by 0.20%, Metal up by 0.16% and IT up by 0.04%, while Bankex down by 1.54%, PSU down by 0.76%, Power down by 0.74%, Oil & Gas down by 0.60% and Realty down by 0.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.97%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.39%, Vedanta up by 0.91%, HDFC Bank up by 0.57% and Tata Motors up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 6.20%, ICICI Bank down by 3.07%, SBI down by 2.25%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.11% and Lupin down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Under a scheme to set up 1,000-MW grid-connected solar projects by central public sector undertakings (CPSUs) and other government organizations, the government has decided to ease norms for releasing viability gap funding (VGF). Considering the request from the various CPSUs and other government organization like NTPC, railways etc for advance release of VGF amount, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has amended the existing provision in the aforesaid scheme.

As per the amended provisions, 50 percent of the viability gap funding will be released on letter of Intent (LOI) and start of the installation of the work at plant. However, the balance 50 percent will be released on successful completion of the full capacity of the project. Changes will come into force with immediate effect.

According to the earlier norms, VGF was released in two tranches, 50 percent of the VGF was released on successful completion of the full capacity of the project, while the remaining 50 percent was released after one year of successful operation of the project. Under the National Solar Mission, government aims to achieve about 100 GW of solar power generation capacity by 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8193.00, down by 39.90 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 8181.00 and 8209.10. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.38%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.90%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.64%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.36% and Vedanta up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 6.36%, ICICI Bank down by 3.15%, Cairn India down by 2.47%, SBI down by 2.33% and Lupin down by 2.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 147.53 points or 0.64% to 22,995.20, Jakarta Composite declined 60.23 points or 1.29% to 4,613.82, Shanghai Composite fell 42.83 points or 1.25% to 3,391.51, Taiwan Weighted slipped 35.33 points or 0.41% to 8,665.99, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 8.49 points or 0.5% to 1,688.46 and KOSPI Index was down by 2.14 points or 0.1% to 2,042.51. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 125.98 points or 0.67% to 18,903.02.