Market trade near lows of the day, auto and oil & gas drag

Markets slipping further are trading at the lows of the day in the early noon session, the sentiments were mainly weighed down by the slide in the regional markets after a good start. Domestic markets unable to get any supportive cue followed the other Asian markets and lost all the early gains. Sensex was once again below the 24000 mark, losing over 300 points from the day’s high, while Nifty too has slipped below 7300 crucial levels. The weakness in rupee, too was weighing down the sentiments, which after a good start has breached the 68 per dollar mark. Traders even overlooked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is gradually transforming most of its taxation laws for a greater degree of stability and predictability. He also stressed that the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a major step in this direction.  Back on street, value-buying in blue-chips that had supported the markets in early deals has waned altogether with marketmen taking whatever profit they can from the table, fearing further slide. On sectoral front, the banking pack along with IT and tech counters were managing to hold in green, otherwise all others are in red.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23948.42, down by 113.62 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 23906.46 and 24351.83. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index was up by 0.29%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.96%, IT up by 0.34%, TECK up by 0.22%, while Auto down by 1.88%, Oil & Gas down by 1.27%, FMCG down by 1.00%, Metal down by 0.76%, PSU down by 0.53% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.36%, ICICI Bank up by 1.65%, BHEL up by 1.47%, NTPC up by 1.02% and Wipro up by 0.93%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.60%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.05%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.87%, ONGC down by 2.46% and Hindustan Unilever down by 2.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to support certain projects under National Highway Development Project (NHDP), the road transport and highways ministry is seeking a soft loan of Rs 13,000 crore from multilateral agencies for its highway projects. It has approached Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a long-term untied loan of Rs 6,000 crore to part fund its NHDP and the remaining amount has been sought from Asian Development Bank (ADB) which will be used for special projects. A soft loan from JICA means the roads ministry can get funds at 0.5% interest rate for a period of over 25 years.

Further, the government is in talks with ADB for Rs 24,000 crore bridge connecting India with Sri Lanka. However, the discussion is still at a primary stage. However, JICA is already funding projects of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and is also providing loans for the dedicated western freight corridor project of the railways as part of the special terms of economic partnership.

Moreover, the ministry could be mulling a loan agreement with state owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). India aims to increase the length of its highways by 50,000 km over the next five years, from 96,000 km now. The plan will require an investment of Rs 5 lakh crore. Recently, in a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had sought a budgetary allocation of Rs 85,000 crore for 2016-17.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7273.30, down by 36.00 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 7265.65 and 7398.70. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 3.66%, Axis Bank up by 3.62%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.61%, ACC up by 1.55% and ICICI Bank up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.79%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.93%, Idea Cellular down by 2.51% and ONGC down by 2.48% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were in red, Nikkei 225 slumped by 398.93 points or 2.43% to 16,017.26, Hang Seng lost 270.83 points or 1.43% to 18,615.47, Shanghai Composite declined by 72.59 points or 2.44% to 2,904.11, Taiwan Weighted was lower by 35.11 points or 0.46% to 7,664.01, Jakarta Composite declined by 12.14 points or 0.27% to 4,415.84, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.89 points or 0.43% to 1,611.94 and KOSPI Index was lower by 4.92 points or 0.27% to 1,840.53.