Indian equity indices reverse gears; slip into negative territory

Indian equity indices entered into negative territory in late afternoon session as investors turned jittery after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept repo rate unchanged at 6.25%. Sensex dropped around 100 points, while nifty was down by around 50 points. On the global front, European markets were trading in green as investors look ahead to Thursday's highly-anticipated European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting. The ECB is seen extending its asset purchase program by six months. Investors are focused on the ability of the central bank to step up purchases of Italian bonds to contain any fallout from the Italian referendum on constitutional reform. Back home, in scrip specific development, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading in red on reports that the US health regulator has issued 14-page 483 observation letter after the inspection of Halol unit, Gujarat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26301.12, down by 91.64 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 26164.82 and 26540.83. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 0.28%, while Small cap index was down by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.82%, Auto up by 0.42% and PSU up by 0.14%, while Bankex down by 1.00%, Realty down by 0.98%, IT down by 0.45%, TECK down by 0.42% and Power down by 0.35% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.85%, Adani Ports &Special up by 1.82%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.78%, Tata Motors up by 0.75% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 5.81%, Axis Bank down by 1.26%, ICICI Bank down by 1.15%, TCS down by 1.09% and Tata Steel down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, public sector companies or PSUs are likely to invest Rs 3 lakh crore in hydrocarbon sector in 3 years. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that the government expects foreign direct investment in the hydrocarbon sector to pick up but the key driver will continue to be the public sector companies, which will invest Rs 3 lakh crore over the next three years.

Abhishek further said that in the last two and a half years our FDI policy has been hugely liberalised and the result has been positive. He added that the sector attracted 40 per cent more FDI in the past two and a half years than in the previous corresponding period. He said in last two and a half years we have attracted $ 129 billion of FDI, but there is a huge need for investment given that India is the third largest consumer of energy in the world.

Sashi Mukundan, Chairman CII National Committee on Hydrocarbons and BP India too had said that investment in exploration, development of discovered reserves, enhanced oil recovery schemes and technology will be Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore by 2022 and said that decisions like giving pricing freedom to gas produced from difficult fields like deepwater will help unlock 10-15 trillion cubic feet of reserves.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8097.30, down by 45.85 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 8077.50 and 8190.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 3.26%, BPCL up by 2.08%, HDFC up by 1.58%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.29% and Tata Motors up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 6.19%, Bank Of Baroda down by 2.34%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.09%, Axis Bank down by 1.80% and Indusind Bank down by 1.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index rose 2.03 points or 0.1% to 1,991.89, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.29 points or 0.14% to 1,632.02, Taiwan Weighted advanced 13.12 points or 0.14% to 9,263.89, Shanghai Composite surged 22.6 points or 0.71% to 3,222.24, Hang Seng jumped 125.77 points or 0.55% to 22,800.92 and Nikkei 225 was up by 136.15 points or 0.74% to 18,496.69, while Jakarta Composite was down by 14.01 points or 0.27% to 5,258.95.

All the European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC gained 44.16 points or 0.95% to 4,676.10, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 60.98 points or 0.9% to 6,840.82 and Germany’s DAX was up by 121.12 points or 1.12% to 10,896.44.