Markets continue negative trade; Nifty moves in tight band

Indian equity markets continued trading in negative territory amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. The 50-share NSE Nifty continued to trade in a narrow range since morning ahead of expiry on Oct 25. Investors were largely staying away on the sidelines, choosing to wait for some clear triggers. In currency markets, snapping earlier session’s gains, Indian rupee depreciated against dollar on mild capital outflows. On sectoral front, capital goods stocks were steady, on quarterly results from Larsen & Toubro. Healthcare and realty stocks were finding some support.  PSU stocks saw some brisk buying this morning ahead of the meeting of several PSU chiefs with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to discuss capital expenditure plans, as well as issues hurting growth of their respective industries. In global markets, Wall Street closed on a weak note on Monday amid a slew of disappointing earnings reports and the mood on Asian bourses too is quite subdued today. Back home, the market breadth favoring positive trend; there were 1,242 shares on the gaining side against 1,116 shares on the losing side while 116 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,758.58, down by 34.86 points or 0.19%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.16% and 0.25% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CG up by 1.34%, HC up by 0.47%, Realty up by 0.47%, PSU up by 0.25% and Bankex was up by 0.06%. On the other hand, CD down by 1.18%, FMCG down by 0.72%, IT down by 0.63%, Oil & Gas down by 0.52% and Auto down by 0.48% on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 2.01%, Cipla up by 0.91%, ICICI Bank up by 0.85%, Dr Reddys up by 0.64% and Coal India up by 0.62%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.63%, ITC down by 1.14%, Infosys down by 1.01%, Tata Power down by 0.94% and Reliance down by 0.88% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government amid struggling with reforms to revive the economic growth, the Planning Commission has sought clarity on Coal Ministry’s decision to allocate coal blocks to Public Sector Companies through special dispensation route. The Planning panel has questioned centre on reserve price calculation of coal blocks, criteria for giving additional mines where the firms has already being allocated in the past and issues related to mine closure.

It has also sought details on whether if the state-owned company has already acquired blocks, then what would be the justification criteria required by the firms to apply for more mines. It has urged that the state-owned firms have to provide progressive requirements over a period for life cycle of the end use plan and also has to consider the demand projections for the specified period, to ensure more clarity on the process.

The Plan Commission has also put forth concerns of the coal bearing states that the mines of their state are not to be allocated to a company from other coal bearing state. Also noted that the current proposal do not include norms on mine closures, for both progressive and final. The Coal Ministry had categorized nearly 16 mines with 7.2 billion tonnes to be given to government sector companies, while the total number of coal blocks held for auction is about 54 with nearly 18.22 billion tones.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,703.45, down by 13.70 points or 0.24%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Siemens up by 1.91%, L&T up by 1.86%, BPCL up by 1.20%, Lupin up by 1.09%, and Cipla up by 0.85%.

On the flip side, Kotak Bank down by 1.74%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.61%, ITC down by 1.33%, Reliance Industries down by 1.01% and Infosys down by 1.01% were the major losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.47% Kospi Composite fell by 0.76% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.48%.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was up by 0.04%, KLSE Composite too gained 0.10%, Nikkei 225 was higher by 0.04% and Straits Times gained 0.33%.

Hong Kong markets are closed for a holiday today.