Benchmarks languish in red; Nifty holds 8,200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks continued their range bound weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Investors shrugged off World Bank report which stated that there are good reasons for confidence in India’s near-term prospects. India needs to activate stalled engines, including private investment and rural demand, to sustain 7.6% growth rate in the coming years. The report expects economic growth to be at 7.6% in 2016-2017 followed by a modest acceleration to 7.7% in 2017-2018 and 7.8% in 2018-2019. Traders were seen piling position in Auto, PSU and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Power, Realty and TECK sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Kesar Terminals & Infrastructure was trading firm after the company informed that a meeting of the board of directors will be held on June 24, 2016, to consider issue of bonus shares. SITI Cable Network was trading in green after the company stated that its promoters will hike stake in the company by up to 3.67% and buying of shares will start on June 27.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading mostly on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,250 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1208:1239 while 188 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26836.86, down by 30.06 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 26754.60 and 26925.64. 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 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.24%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.61%, PSU up by 0.15%, Oil & Gas up by 0.14% and Metal up by 0.14% while, Power down by 0.72%, Realty down by 0.52%, TECK down by 0.39%, IT down by 0.34% and Bankex down by 0.27% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.10%, HDFC up by 0.85%, Coal India up by 0.80% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.69%.

On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.40%, Asian Paints down by 1.28%, GAIL India down by 1.12%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.02% and Infosys down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after the government allowed 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single brand retail, civil aviation, defence, airports, pharmaceuticals, food products and animal husbandry, the US India Business Council (USIBC), has said that the widened scope of FDI norms in this sector will provide a fillip to the potential of the US-India bilateral trade.

USIBC President Mukesh Aghi stated that, 'We applaud the liberalisation of FDI to 74 per cent in brownfield investments under the automatic route in the pharmaceutical sector, while also allowing investments beyond 74 per cent and up to 100 per cent through government approval.' He added that, allowing up to 74% FDI in pharmaceutical sector through the automatic rout will encourage investment to move swiftly into India and will further promote and expand healthcare access in India.

These reforms include accelerated infrastructure investment, greater openness to FDI, less red tape, and a revised bankruptcy code. USIBC President said, 'We had stated earlier that $45 billion is only a starting point for American companies to invest in India. With these newly announced reforms, FDIs, technology transfers, and jobs are likely to increase substantially.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8221.65, down by 16.85 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 8202.15 and 8257.25. There were 16 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.11%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.47%, ONGC up by 1.24%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.21% and Bharti Infratel up by 1.00%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 2.20%, NTPC down by 1.81%, BHEL down by 1.37%, GAIL India down by 1.31% and IndusInd Bank down by 1.29% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.06 points or 0.06% to 1,635.29, KOSPI Index increased 1.58 points or 0.08% to 1,982.70, Jakarta Composite increased 21.05 points or 0.43% to 4,884.58, Taiwan Weighted increased 58.93 points or 0.68% to 8,684.85, Hang Seng increased 158.24 points or 0.77% to 20,668.44 and Nikkei 225 increased 203.81 points or 1.28% to 16,169.11.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite decreased 10.25 points or 0.35% to 2,878.56.

The European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 6.79 points or 0.16% to 4,347.55, Germany’s DAX increased 27.04 points or 0.27% to 9,989.06 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 11.3 points or 0.18% to 6,192.70.