Markets trade lower in early deals dragged down by heavyweights

Indian markets after a cautious start have slipped further in negative terrain, with major bourses witnessing cut of around a quarter percent in early deals. The weakness in the other regional peers after the deadly attacks in Belgium that left at least 34 people dead and scores wounded was having its impact on the local markets too. Markets that have witnessed a volatile trade in the last session were unable to get any supportive cues and were under pressure due to selling in banking, pharma and IT stocks, cuts in heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and ITC were exerting pressure on the benchmark indices. The further weakness in rupee too was putting pressure on the markets. The rupee opened at 66.78 a dollar, down 0.08% from its previous close of 66.72. Traders have even overlooked India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) report that the current account deficit for the current fiscal is likely to come in close to 1.3 percent of the GDP. While some of the sectoral indices are in red, the broader markets are bucking the trend and trading with modest gains.

In scrip specific development, Cadila Healthcare has recovered from its initial fall and was trading in green. The company has received a Notice of Concern (NoC) or warning from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for violations of good manufacturing practices at its vaccine plant in Moraiya in Sanand district of Gujarat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25243.59, down by 86.90 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 25209.44 and 25322.10. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07%, while Small cap index gained 0.36%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.78%, Realty up by 0.55%, Capital Goods up by 0.25%, Auto up by 0.17%, TECK up by 0.06%, while Bankex down by 0.51%, Consumer Durables down by 0.41%, Oil & Gas down by 0.34%, FMCG down by 0.17%, IT down by 0.17% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.62%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.33%, Tata Steel up by 0.79%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.71% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.13%, Lupin down by 1.05%, HDFC down by 0.95%, ICICI Bank down by 0.90% and NTPC down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has got investments over Rs 1.28 lakh crore in electronics manufacturing sector. Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad speaking at the Digital India summit has said that government was working towards making India a hub for electronics manufacturing, in which the Centre and states have to play a crucial part, he cited that when this government came in 2014, the total investment in electronics manufacturing was around Rs 11,700 crore and as now it is Rs 1,28,000 crore plus.

Prasad further said that the government's aim is to not only create a digital enabled society, but also a digitally- empowered and enlightened India. He added that India is fast adopting technology and the country is likely to have half a billion Internet users by the end of this year. He also said that Indians first watch technology, then they adopt it, then start enjoying it and then they become enlightened and empowered.

The communication minister said that today India has a billion plus mobile phone users, 990 million have Aadhaar card. Government has saved close to Rs 50,000 crore by directly giving subsidy to Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts. He also noted that while it took 2.5-3 years for Internet users to go from 200 to 300 million. It has taken a year to reach 400 million. He further said that when all gram panchayats are linked through the broadband network, then e-business, e-education, e-health and other projects can be started in villages.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7699.15, down by 15.75 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 7686.15 and 7718.25. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.39%, Idea Cellular up by 2.40%, Tata Power up by 1.94%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.72% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 1.20%, Bank Of Baroda down by 1.09%, Reliance Industries down by 1.05%, HDFC down by 1.04% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.02% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red, Hang Seng was down by 54.09 points or 0.26% to 20,612.66, Taiwan Weighted lost 32.37 points or 0.37% to 8,753.31, Jakarta Composite was down by 25.5 points or 0.53% to 4,830.60, Shanghai Composite declined by 9.21 points or 0.31% to 2,990.15, KOSPI Index decreased 4.13 points or 0.21% to 1,992.68, Nikkei 225 was tad lower by 3.61 points or 0.02% to 17,044.94 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.95 points or 0.11% to 1,722.80.