Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in early noon session

Indian benchmark indices continued to trade choppy in early noon session with key gauges altering between positive and negative territory on account of selling in blue chips counters. Investors’ opted to remain on sidelines ahead of tomorrow’s crucial referendum that will decide whether Britain will stay in the European Union or not. However, losses remained capped with an UNCTAD report stating that India's foreign direct investment (FDI) is likely to cross $60 billion this year on favorable policy environment even as the FDI flows globally are set to witness a decline. In India, the report said, the large increase of announced greenfield investments in manufacturing industries may provide further impetus to FDI this year. Some encouragement came on report that the monsoons have finally hit most parts of Maharashtra and central India. With this, sowing of kharif crops like paddy, cotton, maize, oilseeds and pulses, is expected to gather pace. A monsoon is expected to cover south Gujarat, parts of Madhya Pradesh, East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the next 48 hours. There will be better rainfall during the next 15 days over central India. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, with investors focused on Thursday's vote on Britain's possible withdrawal from the European Union and after relief over US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's statement that the Fed would remain cautious in raising interest rates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26799.44, down by 13.34 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 26772.94 and 26887.29. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index down by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.39%, Bankex up by 0.38%, Consumer Durables up by 0.16%, PSU up by 0.04% and Capital Goods up by 0.03%, while Auto down by 0.59%, Metal down by 0.57%, Power down by 0.18%, FMCG down by 0.17% and Oil & Gas down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.28%, Coal India up by 0.88%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.84%, Lupin up by 0.73% and HDFC Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.72%, Tata Steel down by 1.60%, GAIL India down by 1.33%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.93% and Reliance Industries down by 0.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, coal Secretary Anil Swarup has said that the framework of commercial mining has been prepared by the coal ministry and will allocate 16 coal mines to state-run utilities for commercial mining by September this year. He said allocation of coal blocks to state utilities for commercial use is the first step towards opening up the coal sector. The 16 mines have geological reserves of 2.137 billion tonnes and are expected to annually add an additional 40 million tonnes of coal production in the country.

Swarup said that out of the 16 mines identified for commercial coal mining by state government-run utilities, eight will be given to the host state while eight will be available for public sector companies of other states. The host States for which eight mines have been reserved are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.

The government has invited applications from state utilities for allotment of 16 coal blocks for commercial use.  Allotments are expected after the coal ministry scrutinises the applications and decides on the winners. Commenting on the same, Swarup said that the government expects to discover market-determined prices for coal through these mines production where is expected to start in another year or two after their allotment.

On the pricing front, Swarup said that currently Coal India is determining the price. With another entity coming in, some sort of a market will be created and price discovery will happen. The Coal Mines Special Provision Act 2015 passed by Parliament on March 20, provides for opening up commercial coal mining to private and public entities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8212.65, down by 7.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8207.95 and 8238.35. There were 27 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.23%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.06%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 0.87%, Adani Ports &Special up by 0.86% and ICICI Bank up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.99%, Tata Motors down by 2.56%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.28%, Hindalco down by 1.98% and Tata Steel down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 3.46 points or 0.21% to 1,637.69, KOSPI Index increased 9.88 points or 0.5% to 1,992.58, Shanghai Composite increased 11.45 points or 0.4% to 2,890.01, Jakarta Composite increased 15.08 points or 0.31% to 4,893.80, Taiwan Weighted increased 31.4 points or 0.36% to 8,716.25 and Hang Seng increased 130.74 points or 0.63% to 20,799.18, while Nikkei 225 decreased 103.39 points or 0.64% to 16,065.72.