Markets come off the day’s low; still trade in red

Markets continue to show a sluggish trend in the noon deals, with not much respite in sight, though the selling has got arrested and the benchmarks have recovered a bit from the day’s low, but the major benchmarks continue to trade lower tracking the steep fall in some regional equity markets. Sentiments remained dampened on report that foreign funds stayed away from Indian equities in 2015 and invested just Rs 17,806 crore ($3.2 billion) in stock markets last year as compared to Rs 1 lakh crore invested each into equities in the preceding three years. Traders continued to remain worried as the manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in 25 months in December as Chennai floods triggered significant decline in output and new orders.

Asian markets fell further after trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was suspended for the day following a sharp fall of 7.4% in the benchmark Shanghai Composite after its PMI slipped to 48.2 in December, from 48.6 in November, shrinking for the tenth straight month. Back home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE was spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include telecom, industrial and finance. Sectors like banking, healthcare, realty, oil and gas, technology too were trading with huge losses. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,117 shares on the gaining side against 1,527 shares on the losing side while 106 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25773.49, down by 387.41 points or 1.48% after trading in a range of 25677.41 and 26116.52. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.06%, while Small cap index down by 0.97%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 3.01%, Finance down by 2.02%, Industrials down by 1.87%, Bankex down by 1.99% and Healthcare down by 1.68%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 0.27%, NTPC up by 0.24%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.16%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.12% and Wipro up by 0.11%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.66%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.91%, HDFC down by 2.77%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.37% and Lupin down by 2.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government will unveil direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for kerosene, from 1st April 2016, where the users will buy the cooking fuel at market rate but will get financial support directly in their bank accounts. The scheme will be implemented in selected 26 districts of eight states. This step has come after the success of paying subsidy to LPG users in their bank accounts. The move will help curtail subsidy outgo for kerosene, which in 2014-15 was about Rs 24,799 crore.

Under the scheme, the cash subsidy to be paid to users will be equivalent to the difference between current PDS price of about Rs 12 and market rate of Rs 43 per litre. The scheme will be rolled out from April 1 in Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, Panipat and Panchkula in Haryana, Shimla, Solan and Una in Himachal Pradesh, Chhatra, Giridih, East Singbhum, Hazaribagh, Jamtara and Khunti in Jharkhand, Hoshangabad, Harda, Khandwa and Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Amaravati and Latur in Maharashtra, Taran, Pathankot and Mohali in Punjab and Pali, Jhunjhunu and Kota in Rajasthan.

With a view to incentivize States and Union Territories to implement DBT in kerosene, it has been decided that the states be given cash incentive of 75 percent of subsidy savings during the first two years, 50 percent in the third year and 25 percent in the fourth year. In order to avoid any inconvience to the beneficiary through the payment of un-subsidised price, subsidy shall be credited to eligible beneficiaries in advance during the initial purchase.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7839.90, down by 123.30 points or 1.55% after trading in a range of 7813.55 and 7937.55. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 2.45%, Power Grid up by 0.71%, Tata Steel up by 0.43%, NTPC up by 0.42% and Asian Paints up by 0.32%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.95%, Idea Cellular down by 4.43%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.91%, Bank of Baroda down by 3.65% and Yes Bank down by 3.22% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading lower; Hang Seng declined 602.38 points or 2.75% to 21,312.02, Nikkei 225 tumbled 582.73 points or 3.06% to 18,450.98, Shanghai Composite crumbled 242.52 points or 6.85% to 3,296.66, Taiwan Weighted decreased 223.8 points or 2.68% to 8,114.26, KOSPI Index shed 42.55 points or 2.17% to 1,918.76, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 20.52 points or 1.21% to 1,671.99 and Jakarta Composite was down by 16.53 points or 0.36% to 4,576.48.