Markets continue to trade lower weighed down by IT and tech stocks

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in early noon session despite a firm trend in other Asian markets, due to profit-booking by investors after recent gains. Depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar also weighed down sentiments. The rupee depreciated by 9 paise to 66.11 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange in early trade on Wednesday on buying of the US currency by importers. Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, Power, Capital Goods, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in IT and TECk sector stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets have turned mostly in red, as investors remained cautious over the latest global geopolitical developments in the wake of Paris terror attacks. Back home, both sensex and Nifty were trading below the crucial 25,850 and 7,850 levels respectively. In scrip specific development, share of Sun Pharmaceutical was trading higher after the company launched its Volini Spray with 360 degree technology and hinted at consolidation of its consumer healthcare business across five major brands. Under the Consumer healthcare business, Sun Pharma has five major brands of Revital, Volini, Pepfiz, Garlic Pearls and Olesan Oil and expects to expand their market presence.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2396 stocks traded, 1269 stocks advanced, while 978 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25833.80, down by 30.67 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 25785.79 and 25890.36. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.30%, while Small cap index added 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.14%, Power up by 1.01%, Capital Goods up by 0.81%, Oil & Gas up by 0.44% and PSU up by 0.39%, while IT down by 1.45% and TECK down by 1.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.04%, GAIL India up by 1.78%, Coal India up by 1.72%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.02% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.55%, Hindalco down by 1.79%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.61%, Vedanta down by 1.47% and Tata Steel down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move that could allow more ministries to clear their own projects, without going through the time-consuming process of seeking the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the government is likely to exclude the cost of land while computing the total cost of infrastructure projects

In order to implement the proposal, the government will need to amend the transaction of business rules for the CCEA. The proposals will benefit the ministries of urban development and railways. The Prime Minister's Office has supported the proposal to exclude the land cost from total project cost and now the road transport and highway Ministry are waiting for the Cabinets approval. Presently all infrastructure projects costing over Rs 1,000 crore have to be approved by the CCEA and given the high cost of land, many projects will remain below the threshold if this component is not included in the project cost.

Currently, in many cases the land cost makes up as much as 40% of the project cost. Earlier, the land cost for any project was not more than 10-15%, but because of the increased compensation for land acquisition in some cases prices of land are as high as the construction cost. Exclusion of land cost is a must if the Ministry has to increase the pace of awarding projects.

According to the data available with the road transport and highways ministry, the land cost in recent times has seen a significant increase in states including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. As per the National Highways Authority of India's figures, the estimated initial price of land has increased to Rs 3 crore per hectare on average from Rs 56 lakh in 2011-12.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7825.70, down by 11.85 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 7813.10 and 7843.40. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.01%, GAIL India up by 1.93%, Coal India up by 1.88%, Asian Paints up by 1.78% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.68%, HCL Tech. down by 2.38%, Hindalco down by 1.98%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.81% and Vedanta down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 78.95 points or 0.94% to 8,340.47, Hang Seng decreased 30.06 points or 0.14% to 22,234.19, Shanghai Composite decreased 8.44 points or 0.23% to 3,596.36, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.14 points or 0.07% to 1,660.39 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.89 points or 0.05% to 1,962.69, while Jakarta Composite increased 13.02 points or 0.29% to 4,513.96 andNikkei 225 increased 28.27 points or 0.14% to 19,658.90.