Benchmarks trade flat on the penultimate day of F&O expiry

Key benchmarks have opened listless on Wednesday’s trade ahead of F&O expiry tomorrow. Every market across the globe has been waiting for decisive move from central bankers' meet at Jackson Hole on August 31 to solve ongoing Eurozone credit crisis. The US markets ended the trade mixed overnight while, most of the Asian counters were trading in the green at this point of time. However, Chinese market was trading lower on news that retailers in the country are reporting weaker sales growth. Retail sales have missed economists’ forecasts in three of the last four months. Back home, the Nifty is heading lower to the 5,300 mark after the RBI governor reiterated that inflation remained the key threat for the economy, dashing any hopes of a rate cut in September. Moreover, metal stocks came under selling pressure for a second straight day while, commodity prices are under pressure, sending shares in miners and steel makers lower. On the sectoral front banking, healthcare and capital goods remained the top gainers while, auto, software and technology witnessed the most selling pressure, dragging down the Sensex. Meanwhile, the broader indices were trading on an absolute flat note while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 662 shares on the gaining side against 736 shares on the losing side while 67 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,651.14; about 20 points higher compared to its previous closing of 17,631.71, and has touched a high and a low of 17,653.90 and 17,573.52 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,607.54, down by 24.17 points or 0.14%. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 45.19% stocks advancing against 50.24% declines. The broader indices were trading absolutely flat; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.01% and 0.02% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 0.49%, HC up by 0.48%, CG up by 0.31%, Power up by 0.26% and Realty up by 0.24%. While, Auto down by 0.84%, IT down by 0.42%, TECk down by 0.38%, Oil and Gas down by 0.12% and PSU down by 0.12% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.16%, Cipla up by 1.08%, ICICI Bank up by 1.06%, Tata Power up by 0.92% and Hindalco up by 0.80%.

On the flip side, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.59%, Tata Motors was down by 1.58%, HDFC was down by 1.30%, ONGC was down by 1.24% and M&M was down by 0.96% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the market regulator, Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in order to minimize the cost of maintaining securities in demat accounts for retail investors, is likely to unveil a ‘Basic Services Demat Account’ (BSDA). The market regulator has directed all depository participants (DP) to offer BSDA with limited services. The circular is expected to come into effect from October 1.

Under this no-frill demat account, annual maintenance charge would be nil if the value of securities held is up to Rs 50,000 and charge of Rs 100 would be levied if the value is above Rs 50,001 to Rs 200,000. Further, as per the daily closing price of securities or daily closing NAV, the BSDA value would be determined every day and if the value of securities held in the BSDA exceeds the prescribed norm, charges pertinent to a normal DP account would apply from that date.

The holders will get transaction statements only at the end of every quarter. If there are no transactions in any quarter, no transaction statement will be sent for that quarter. The investors will also be able to receive SMS alert facility for all debit transactions on the accounts through their mobile phones.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,343.85; about 9 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,334.60, and has touched a high and a low of 5,345.50 and 5,315.80 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,324.65, up by 9.95 points or 0.19%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 2.16%, Tata Power up by 1.12%, ICICI Bank up by 0.99%, Hindalco up by 0.80% and Cipla up by 0.80%.

On the flip side, JP Associates down by 7.17%, Sesa Goa down by 2.36%, SAIL down by 2.35%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.55% and Tata Motors down by 1.50%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; KLSE Composite was marginally up by 1.57 points or 0.09% to 1,648.63, Nikkei 225 gained 25.70 points or 0.28% to 9,058.99, Straits Times was up by 7.80 points or 0.25% to 3,047.83, Kospi Composite added 5.10 points or 0.26% to 1,920.73 and Taiwan Weighted gained 28.84 points or 0.39% to 7,389.98.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.33 points or 0.40% to 2,064.83, Hang Seng was marginally down by 2.57 points or 0.01% to 19,809.23, Jakarta Composite declined by 15.86 points or 0.41% to 4,125.98.