Benchmarks erase gains; trades in red

Indian equity benchmarks erased gains and started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters as investors were concerned that recent rally may have exceeded the prospects for earnings growth. Investors are also keeping an eye on the likely passage of the unified sales tax bill in the monsoon session of parliament, which began on Monday. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & gas, Power and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Realty and Consumer Durables sector stocks. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in some state-run banks after government provided recapitalization fund to 13 PSU banks that have high non-performing loans and stressed assets. In scrip specific development, Mindtree was trading under pressure after it posted a 3.7% drop in consolidated net profit to Rs 123.5 crore in the June quarter that witnessed strong winds in the form of slower project ramp-ups and loss from its Bluefin business. On the other hand, Jaiprakash Power Ventures and JSW Energy were trading in green after the latter agreed to acquire the 500 megawatts (MW) thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh from Jaiprakash Power Ventures.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,500 and 27,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1045:1488 while 158 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27701.31, down by 45.35 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 27637.98 and 27824.50. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.33%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.73%, Power up by 0.43%, PSU up by 0.36% and IT up by 0.01% while, FMCG down by 0.98%, Realty down by 0.83%, Consumer Durables down by 0.60%, Metal down by 0.20% and Bankex down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 1.90%, ICICI Bank up by 1.61%, TCS up by 0.84%, Lupin up by 0.84% and Adani Ports & Special Economic zone up by 0.78%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.27%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.27%, HDFC Bank down by 0.95% and GAIL India down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, offering investment opportunities in building and developing new ports, construction of new berths/terminals in existing ports, coastal economic zones, dredging, ship building, ship repairing, ship recycling, development of inland waterways and coastal and cruise shipping, the government will provide maritime clusters for ancillary industrial support and design centres, as well as financial assistance to meet the challenge of lack of competitive advantage due to heavy subsidies provided by major shipbuilding countries to their shipbuilding industry.

The Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari during his recent visit to America, explored joint venture opportunities with India’s flagship container handling Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) to promote transfer of technology and enhance bilateral commerce and said that American Ports have evinced a keen interest in a comprehensive port-led development, especially the ambitious Sagarmala programme, which with 150 projects have potential of mobilising $50-60 Billion of infrastructure investment and another $ 100 Billion of promoting industrial growth.

Gadkari further said that the government has agreed to provide maritime clusters for ancillary industrial support and design centres, as well as financial assistance to meet the challenge of lack of competitive advantage due to heavy subsidies provided by major shipbuilding countries to their shipbuilding industry.

The minister told the US maritime sector that thematic studies and action plans have been developed across sector for implementation, prominent elements of which include coastal shipping revolution, coastal industrial Greenfield plants, reduced time to export container by five days and reducing cost to export by $50 per container.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8493.30, down by 15.40 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 8476.70 and 8537.15. There were 22 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 2.08%, ICICI Bank up by 1.63%, BPCL up by 1.36%, Idea Cellular up by 1.30% and Bosch up by 0.98%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.48%, IndusInd Bank down by 2.04%, Yes Bank down by 2.04%, Eicher Motors down by 1.64% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.40% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 129.98 points or 0.6% to 21,673.20, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.97 points or 0.23% to 3,036.60, KOSPI Index decreased 4.22 points or 0.21% to 2,016.89 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.32 points or 0.14% to 1,668.52.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted increased 26.66 points or 0.3% to 9,034.87, Jakarta Composite increased 53.59 points or 1.05% to 5,181.09 and Nikkei 225 increased 225.46 points or 1.37% to 16,723.31.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.1 points or 0.33% to 6,673.32, Germany’s DAX decreased 110.75 points or 1.1% to 9,952.38 and France’s CAC decreased 35.62 points or 0.82% to 4,322.12.