Weak global cues drag benchmarks lower in early trade

Key benchmarks, after opening on a flattish note, have turned negative tracking weakness in the global markets as investors fear that the latest policy easing by leading central banks would not be adequate to reinforce the fragile global economy. The European Central Bank (ECB) and the People’s Bank of China slashed their benchmark borrowing costs yesterday, while the Bank of England (BOE) expanded the size of its asset-purchase program. Overnight, the US stocks edged down while, all the Asian peers were trading in the red at this point of time, indicating somber investors’ sentiments. Back home, Sensex breached its crucial 17,500 mark as funds and retail investors preferred to book profits amid a weak trend in Asian markets. Moreover, the sentiments also remained dampen as rupee remains under pressure as overseas investors are not convinced about ongoing attempts to shore up growth. On the sectoral front auto remained the lone gainer on the index while, major part of the blow was absorbed by software, metals, technology, power and realty stocks. Meanwhile, the broader indices too were struggling to get some traction however, the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,542 shares on the gaining side against 971 shares on the losing side while 109 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,546.04; about 8 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,538.67, and has touched a low of 17,455.46 while high remained its opening.

The index is currently trading at 17,485.79 down by 52.88 points or 0.30%. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 58.81% stocks advancing against 37.03% declines. The broader indices too were struggling to get some traction; the BSE Mid cap index dipped 0.05% while, small cap index rose 0.10%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Auto up by 0.47%. While, IT down by 0.87%, Metal down by 0.78%, TECk down by 0.65%, Power down by 0.60% and Realty down by 0.57% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.44%, M&M up by 1.29%, HUL up by 0.74%, Coal India up by 0.67% and HDFC up by 0.50%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.49%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.41%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.31%, ONGC was down by 1.19% and Tata Motors was down by 0.97% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in order to meet the requirements of rare earth minerals such as titanium, platinum, manganese, copper, cobalt and nickel, India has announced plans for mining the deep sea. These minerals are very essential and are required for a variety of electronic use such as lithium car batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, flat screen television, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and military components such as missile guidance systems and hence the government is taking an initiative to extract them from the sea.

On the sidelines, the Minister of State for Planning, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Ashwani Kumar, said ‘we have the capability to mine the ocean bed at a depth of 6,000 metres using our ship Sagar Nidhi. We are inducting two more ships, one acquired from a Korean shipyard and one built at Surat to augment our capabilities.’

By adding further he said, citing steps taken by China, who has taken to deep sea mining with a strategic purpose, India too is not aiming at exploring the ocean bed for commercial profits but with a strategic purpose.

Further, steps are also taken by the government to enhance sea mining capabilities by renovating an old research vessel ‘Sagar Kanya’. Moreover, to create the necessary internal eco-system, human resource and demand to promote and develop high-power computing and supercomputing, 200 scientists and 2,000 researchers will be identified to do same. The sole aim of the government is to form an ecosystem where 25% of the country is connected by supercomputer activity. For this, a proposal has been received for establishing 200 centre’s connected over the National Knowledge Network.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,324.70; about 3 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,327.30, and has touched a high and a low of 5,326.95 and 5,298.85 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,309.15, lower by 18.15 points or 0.34%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 1.40%, Tata Motors up by 1.38%, M&M up by 1.38%, Coal India up by 1.00% and Grasim up by 0.92%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.43%, GAIL down by 1.34%, Tata Power down by 1.23%, HCL Tech down by 1.21% and Hindalco down by 1.20%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down by 12.01 points or 0.55% to 2189.34, KLSE Composite declined 0.31 points or 0.01% to 1614.34, Nikkei dipped by 38.27 points or 0.42% to 9041.56, Strait Times declined by 12.06 points or 0.41% to 2959.49, Kospi Composite Index shed 12.93 points or 0.69% to 1862.37, Taiwan Weighted plummeted 42.83 points or 0.58% to 7344.76, Hang Seng index fell 70.59 points or 0.36 % to 19783.54 and Jakarta Composite dipped 1.17 points or 0.02 % to 4067.55.