Weakness persists on D-Street in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade with a cut of around three fourth of a percent in noon deals as sentiments remained dampened on global growth concern. Market participants failed to draw any sense of relief with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das underscoring the importance of reforms, stating that the 7.6 percent GDP growth is 'significant' amid the global turmoil and there is no need to be 'skeptical'. Global cues too remained sluggish with Asian markets trading sharply lower at this point of time on concerns over health of the banking sector in the euro zone. Some of the markets like Singapore and Indonesia have re-opened after the Lunar Year holidays.

Closer home, banking counter was mainly playing spoil sport for Indian equity markets after Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Central Bank of India reported weak Q3 earnings. PNB posted a sharp 93% decline in net profit in the third quarter of the fiscal on account of fresh slippages arising from the steel sector besides higher provisioning requirement as part of RBI norms, while Central Bank’s net loss widened to Rs 837 crore on the back of higher provisions amounting to Rs 1,499 crore. Selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices, barring software and technology, on BSE were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include realty, banking and metal. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 501 shares on the gaining side against 1,795 shares on the losing side while 101 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23837.80, down by 183.18 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 23743.79 and 23938.32. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.90%, while Small cap index declined by 1.15%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.47% and TECK up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 3.28%, Metal down by 1.91%, Bankex down by 1.83%, PSU down by 1.79% and Auto down by 1.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.44%, Reliance Industries up by 1.12% and Sun Pharma up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special down by 4.98%, Tata Motors down by 3.51%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.20%, Tata Steel down by 2.84% and ICICI Bank down by 2.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, United States showing interest in India’s Smart City initiative has said that it is keen to participate in all the proposed 100 smart city projects and has offered technological support for developing a sustainable economy. US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews has said that there are substantial business opportunities for the US companies in India’s smart city projects and added that added that US can be a very valuable partner in helping India to develop sustainable economy.

Andrews is leading a delegation of 18 US companies on a Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission. He is on a five-day visit to India to meet both policy makers and Indian businesses. He would showcase the great technologies that provide great value and potential for India.  the US delegation met Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu, who assured them that Special Purpose Vehicles being set up for implementation of Smart City plans will be empowered to ensure timely execution of all projects by taking required decisions and ensuring necessary coordination.

Terming financing of these smart cities projects as one of the challenge, Andrews said there would be multi-financial channel for these projects, including the central government, local government and businesses. He further said that US businesses have the technological solutions which will be helpful across India.

Recently, the government had announced the first batch of 20 smart cities from 11 states and Delhi. Apart from Bhubaneshwar, the cities in the first batch were Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal, NDMC area of Delhi, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davanagere, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati and Ludhiana.  Altogether, 100 cities are to be developed into smart cities as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious programme.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7235.30, down by 62.90 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 7213.50 and 7271.85. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.05%, Infosys up by 1.58%, Reliance Industries up by 1.10%, Sun Pharma up by 0.47% and Power Grid up by 0.11%. On the flip side, PNB down by 7.29%, Hindalco down by 6.21%, Cairn India down by 6.08%, Bank of Baroda down by 5.59% and Adani Ports &Special down by 5.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 372.05 points or 2.31% to 15,713.39, Jakarta Composite shed 32.93 points or 0.69% to 4,735.70 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 13.01 points or 0.78% to 1,649.45.