Benchmarks recover some early losses; still continue to trade in red

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the early noon session on account of profit booking in frontline blue chip stocks amid weak Asian cues. Sentiments remained down-beat with the SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya’s statement that Brexit is “not good” for the world, as becoming less inclusive and less connected is not the right thing and nations will benefit more by globalization. Some weakness also came with a private report stating that investments in projects remained elusive in the first quarter of the financial year 2016-17 with stalled projects running into an estimated Rs 11.2 lakh crore. The report has further said that most of the stalled projects are in the electricity (31%) and steel (25%) sectors. In scrip specific development, Tata Steel, the flagship company of the Tata group has reported 16.66 percent rise in its hot steel production at 3.01 million tonnes for the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to 2.58 MT for the same quarter in the previous year.

On the global front, Asian markets mostly fell Tuesday as a week-long rally finally came to an end with traders cashing in profits and awaiting developments in Britain's preparation to leave the European Union after last month's exit vote.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27214.28, down by 64.48 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 27173.79 and 27348.66. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index added 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.61%, PSU up by 0.50%, Realty up by 0.33%, Consumer Durables up by 0.29% and Power up by 0.17%, while Auto down by 0.65%, IT down by 0.30%, TECK down by 0.28%, FMCG down by 0.03% and Oil & Gas down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 0.94%, Coal India up by 0.72%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.70%, SBI up by 0.56% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.52%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.65%, NTPC down by 1.35%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.27%, Tata Motors down by 1.24% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, marking a near twofold growth from the previous year, power generation growth has risen to 9.5% this year so far, which is almost double of 5.65 per cent achieved during 2004 to 2014.

The Power Minister Piyush Goyal has said that power generation growth was recorded at 5.65 per cent between 2004 to 2014, 5.02 per cent in 2012-14 and 7.03 per cent in 2014-16. Goyal further said that there was 87 per cent reduction in energy shortage in the two years of governance from 110 million units (mu) to 14 million units (mu).

As per the Vidyut Pravah application to monitor power demand on the basis of data provided by states, the electricity deficit came down to 14 mu in July this year from 110 mu in the same month in 2014 and 62 mu in 2015.  Also, the power is available across the country at Rs 2.31 per unit in most states. Vidyut Pravah mobile app was launched to provide highlights of power availability in the country on real time basis, offers data on current demand, shortages, surplus power and prices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8348.90, down by 21.80 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 8336.10 and 8381.45. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 1.85%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.41%, Tata Steel up by 0.97%, Yes Bank up by 0.92% and Bank of Baroda up by 0.88%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.94%, NTPC down by 1.64%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.56%, HCL Tech. down by 1.32% and Tata Motors down by 1.30% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 132.02 points or 0.63% to 20,927.18, Nikkei 225 decreased 113.02 points or 0.72% to 15,662.78, Jakarta Composite decreased 45.07 points or 0.9% to 4,971.58, Taiwan Weighted decreased 44.51 points or 0.51% to 8,716.07, KOSPI Index decreased 5.45 points or 0.27% to 1,989.85, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.13 points or 0.25% to 1,650.71.

On the other hand bucking the trend, Shanghai Composite increased 12.24 points or 0.41% to 3,000.85.