Markets trade flat in early deals ahead of Budget announcements

Domestic equity benchmarks are trading flat in Morning deals on Monday, after witnessing a sharp rise in previous session, as investors are awaiting the Union Budget for clues to whether the government will meet its budget deficit target for this year and focus on stimulating growth next year by stepping up public spending. Traders are getting some encouragement with statement of Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian that India is expected to accelerate to 8-10 per cent growth rate in two to five years on account of structure reforms and encouraging competitive federalism. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country increased by 40 percent to $ 29.44 billion during April-December in the current fiscal as compared to USD 21.04 billion in the same period of previous fiscal. PSU banks were trading higher on expectation of capital infusion from government.

In the scrip specific development, shares of Jaypee Group companies such as Jaiprakash Associates, Jaypee Infratech  and Jaiprakash Power Ventures  were trading higher after the Jaiprakash Associates signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UltraTech Cement for divestment of part of the company's cement business.

On the global front, the US markets ended mixed on Friday, giving up most of their opening gains as oil reversed and inflation data increased expectations for a rate hike in the coming year. Asian markets were trading mixed following the lackluster cues from Wall Street on Friday and as the weekend G20 group of nations' meeting ended without the announcement of any concrete measures to boost global global economic growth.

Back home, on the sectoral front, traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Metal, Bankex, PSU and Capital Goods, while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Consumer Durables, Auto, Oil & Gas and TECK. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 747: 698, while 72 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23133.67, down by 20.63 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 23095.70 and 23248.27. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.18%, while Small cap index was tad lower by 0.01%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.04%, Metal up by 0.86%, Bankex up by 0.50%, PSU up by 0.39% and Capital Goods up by 0.18%, while FMCG down by 1.38%, Consumer Durables down by 0.85%, Auto down by 0.35%, Oil & Gas down by 0.24% and TECK down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.21%, Tata Steel up by 2.05%, ICICI Bank up by 1.68%, ONGC up by 1.49% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.17%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.79%, GAIL India down by 1.58%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.57%, Cipla down by 1.57% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a big push to the government's power drive and has asked the Power Ministry to target electrification of around 200 villages every week. Stressing the need to properly highlight electrification of villages, 'Prime Minister has said that the Power Ministry must strive to complete electrification of 200 villages every week by following up with state implementing agencies regularly, adding that progress with regard to electrification of villages should be properly highlighted.

Modi further said that for electrification of the balance villages, the Power Ministry must follow up with state implementing agencies to ensure timely sanctions, procurement, installations and commissioning activities. Prime Minister had earlier said that already 5279 villages have been electrified, with excellent work done by the Power Ministry in Bihar, UP, Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand.

The power ministry in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Independence Day last year, had decided to electrify 18,452 villages within 1,000 days i.e. by May 1, 2018. The strategy for electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and also dividing village electrification process in 12 Stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring. So far, over 5,000 villages have been electrified under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY) and Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the Centre has fixed a target of electrifying 7,000 villages by March-end.

Piyush Goyal further said that the village electrification target for 2015-16 was 2,800 villages, which I set to 5,800. Now my officials told me that they would be able to electrify 7,000 villages by March end.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7024.05, down by 5.70 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 7006.15 and 7053.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 2.66%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.42%, Tata Steel up by 1.93%, Bank Of Baroda up by 1.85% and ICICI Bank up by 1.73%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.39%, ITC down by 1.79%, GAIL India down by 1.73%, Cipla down by 1.31% and Zee Entertainment down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, KOSPI Index increased 0.74 points or 0.04% to 1,920.90, Jakarta Composite increased 18.36 points or 0.39% to 4,751.51, Taiwan Weighted increased 45.3 points or 0.54% to 8,411.16 and Nikkei 225 increased 66.82 points or 0.41% to 16,255.23.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 183.37 points or 0.95% to 19,180.78, Shanghai Composite decreased 92.68 points or 3.35% to 2,674.53 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.57 points or 0.27% to 1,658.87.