Markets make a soft start amid weak global cues

Indian markets after making a soft start have slumped deeper into red amid weak global cues with focus on Friday’s US payrolls report that could sway expectations for the timing of the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate increase. NSE Nifty once breached the crucial level of 8300, while the BSE Sensex was very close to breach the 27000 mark. Trade continues to remain cautious ahead of start of earnings season next week and Monsoon session of Parliament. However, there was some comfort from rating agency CRISIL’s report that India Inc is expected to see a two-year high growth rate of eight per cent in revenue during this financial year’s first quarter ended June 30, mainly driven by export-oriented units like information technology sector.

There was some selling in telecom stocks on the Comptroller and Auditor- General’s findings that Rs. 46,000 crore of revenue was under-reported by six telecom companies. Idea, Bharti Airtel, RCom all were trading lower in the range of 2-4%. The PSU oil marketing companies Viz, BPCL, HPCL and IOC after making a positive start have given up their gains and were trading in red. International crude prices suffered sharp slump on Thursday and fell to near two months low.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27097.26, down by 104.23 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 27034.14 and 27294.82. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.34%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Auto up by 0.66%, while Capital Goods down by 0.91%, PSU down by 0.81%, Metal down by 0.68%, Bankex down by 0.60% and Oil & Gas down by 0.52% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.11%, Asian Paints up by 1.93%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.47%, Lupin up by 0.85% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.56%, ICICI Bank down by 1.86%, GAIL India down by 1.39%, ONGC down by 1.32% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to boost farmer’s income in the coming five years, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said that the government is promoting farm mechanisation in a big way under various programmes and has been setting up more testing and training centres across the country. The farm mechanization, a key for modernising agriculture sector is likely to bring down the cost of cultivation by up to 25 per cent and raise production by 20 per cent.

Elaborating the mechanism, he said that there is a need to bring down the cost of cultivation, for which, use of innovative farm machineries is the need as alone raising support price of agri-crops will not sufficient. Stressing that farm machineries need to be promoted both in agriculture and allied sectors to address labour shortage, the minister said the states should take equal interest and spend allocated central funds for this purpose.

Singh further said that with a focus on increasing the reach of farm machineries to small and marginal farmers, the government is implementing a sub-mission on agricultural mechanisation under which custom-hiring facilities for agri-machinery are set up.

He added that the government is making efforts to address the core challenges facing farm sector, be it improving soil health or providing irrigation to farm fields or promoting balanced use of fertilizers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8302.60, down by 35.30 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 8287.55 and 8353.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.12%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.85%, Asian Paints up by 1.70%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.65% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 3.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.71%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.66%, ICICI Bank down by 1.90% and BHEL down by 1.64% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red, Hang Seng slumped by 218.21 points or 1.05% to 20,488.71, Nikkei 225 was down by 140.14 points or 0.92% to 15,136.10, Shanghai Composite lost 26.17 points or 0.87% to 2,990.68, KOSPI Index was lower by12.19 points or 0.62% to 1,961.89 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.04 points or 0.37% to 1,644.67.