Benchmarks make soft opening on F&O expiry day

Domestic benchmarks have extended their losing streak for fifth straight session and are trading with a cut of about half a percent in morning trade as market participants offloaded positions in view of monthly expiry in the derivatives segment amid a weak trend globally. The global cues too remained sluggish overnight, the US markets ended modestly in green, though the trade remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. While, all the Asian counters were trading in the red terrain at this point of time. Weaker than expected retail sales data from Japan and report of lower business confidence among South Korean manufacturers was weighing on the sentiments. Back home, political logjam on the CAG report on coal block allocations continued to dampen the trading sentiments. Traders also remained on the safer side ahead of first quarter GDP numbers scheduled to be announced on Aug 31, also the RBI’s governor stating that high inflation and wrecked government finances leave little room for either the central bank or the government to throw policy lifeline, has put the rate sensitives’ in cautious mood. On the sectoral front healthcare remained the lone gainer on the Sensex while, major part of the blow was absorbed by auto, metals and capital goods stocks. Meanwhile, the broader indices too were struggling to get some traction and the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 573 shares on the gaining side against 891 shares on the losing side while 88 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,433.50; about 57 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,490.81, and has touched a high and a low of 17,436.70 and 17,392.69 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,403.60 down by 87.21 points or 0.50%. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 36.92% stocks advancing against 57.41% declines. The broader indices too were trading in the red; the BSE Mid cap and small cap indices declined 0.35% and 0.20% respectively.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.06%. While, Auto down by 0.98%, Metal down by 0.98%, CG down by 0.86%, Oil and Gas down by 0.74% and CD down by 0.48% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 1.46%, Hindalco up by 0.87%, Cipla up by 0.60%, ONGC up by 0.31% and HDFC Bank up by 0.11%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 2.63%, Jindal Steel was down by 2.22%, Maruti Suzuki was down by 1.79%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.56% and Tata Steel was down by 1.51% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Sensing growing split within Cabinet over the contentious Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill, 2011, Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh referred the same to a group of ministers (GoM), after its provisions were hailed as 'flawed' and clauses relating to compensation were criticized for being anti-growth.

The very political bill was floated after the government decided to amend the provisions of Land Acquisition bill of 1894 when strong protest against land acquisition, especially in tribal areas, rocked states in 2007. The idea was to abate the absolute powers of state governments to acquire land by specifying in the bill the purpose for which it could be done.

Ironically, despite being endorsed as United Progressive Alliance’s gift to the aam admi, the bill was met with fierce flak by the party’s own ministers during Tuesday’s cabinet meeting. With no price for guessing, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was also vocal in its opposition to the Bill. However, even vehement argument was put from urban development minister Kamal Nath who condemned that the bill would stall all activity, from metro rail to urbanization and industrialization.

However, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who has been keen on pushing the Bill, is optimistic  that there would not be much of trouble to clear the bill, as 25 out of the 28 recommendations of the standing committee, were accepted.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,268.60; about 19 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,287.80, and has touched a high and a low of 5,271.45 and 5,262.25 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,265.40, lower by 22.40 points or 0.42%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.36%, DLF up by 1.26%, Power Grid up by 1.22%, Hindalco up by 0.87% and BPCL up by 0.65%.

On the flip side, Jaiprakash Associates down by 3.36%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.60%, Jindal Steel down by 2.20%, Reliance Infra down by 1.74% and Sterlite Industries down by 1.66%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was marginally down by 0.86 points or 0.04% to 2,052.38, Hang Seng plunged by 246.66 points or 1.25% to 19,541.85, Jakarta Composite declined by 40.43 points or 0.99% to 4,050.59, KLSE Composite was marginally down by 0.86 points or 0.05% to 1,644.78, Nikkei 225 lost 67.08 points or 0.74% to 9,002.73, Straits Times was down by 28.54 points or 0.94% to 3,012.80, Kospi Composite declined by 26.95 points or 1.40% to 1,902.06 and Taiwan Weighted was trading down by 1.31 points or 0.02% to 7,390.06.