Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in green in early afternoon session, on the back of buying witnessed in Realty, Oil & Gas and Metal stocks. Sentiments got some support with the government’s statement that rollout of GST by and large has been smooth and it has deployed a large number of senior officials to regularly review the working of the new indirect tax regime. Moreover, a firm trend in Asian markets after strong US jobs numbers, too supported the markets. In the currency front, the rupee weakened 18 paise to 63.75 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange, following fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. In scrip specific development, Asian Oilfield Services surged by around ten percent with its arm receiving a Letter of Intent for a contract of $20 million from Stratum Energy Romania, LLC for acquisition of 730 sq km of 3D Seismic Data in EV-1 Moinesti Block in onshore Romania.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, with the rally spurred on by strong US jobs data which boosted prospects for the world's top economy and gave the under-fire dollar much needed support. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32327.16, up by 1.75 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 32295.78 and 32396.14. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.95%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.37%, Oil & Gas up by 1.09%, Metal up by 1.00%, PSU up by 0.91% and FMCG up by 0.65%, while IT down by 1.00%, TECK down by 0.83% and  Consumer Durables down by 0.02% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 3.26%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.30%, ICICI Bank up by 1.94%, Coal India up by 1.20% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.86%, Tata Motors down by 1.55%, TCS down by 1.46%, Infosys down by 1.33% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to make mineral block auctions more effective, the Union Mines Ministry will bring out proposed draft changes to the Mineral Auction Rules, 2015 in the month of August. Mines Secretary Arun Kumar has said that the Ministry is looking to remove small glitches in the rules highlighted by bidders and industry associations.

Talking on the issue of environment clearance, Kumar said that the Ministry has given a 20-page suggestion on how the environment can be protected and how rules can be made to expedite the mining process. Therefore, with a view to streamline the procedure, they have given those suggestions and, they will be taking it up with the Ministry of Environment so that simplification and cutting down on delay should be passed on.

The secretary further said that captive definition will stay for the existing leases but for auctions the government will see how it can tweak the system legally to allow for a certain percentage of the minerals to be traded as well.  Meanwhile, so far 29 mineral blocks with an estimated total value of resources of Rs 1,56,746 crore have been auctioned in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10070.95, up by 4.55 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 10057.70 and 10088.10. There were 22 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 3.39%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.51%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 2.15%, ICICI Bank up by 1.97% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.86%, Tata Motors down by 1.79%, TCS down by 1.42%, Infosys down by 1.21% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.17% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 1.26 points or 0.07% to 1,775.79, KOSPI Index rose 3.3 points or 0.14% to 2,398.75, Shanghai Composite surged 15.65 points or 0.48% to 3,277.73, Jakarta Composite added 29.67 points or 0.51% to 5,807.15, Taiwan Weighted was up by 72.82 points or 0.69% to 10,579.38, Nikkei 225 increased 103.56 points or 0.52% to 20,055.89 and Hang Seng increased 115.56 points or 0.42% to 27,678.24.