Markets sink further lacking any supportive cues

The domestic markets have declined further in the mid morning session lacking any supportive cues. The other regional peers too have lost traction and some of the indices are down by over two percent, weighing down the local markets. Both the barometer indices have slipped from their crucial support levels of 16000 (Sensex) and 4800 (Nifty). While the entire sectoral gauges are trading in red, though the IT pack is least affected as the rupee continued to weaken against the dollar, on the other hand the metal gauges were worst affected, tailing their international peers. European leaders are still working on new ways to stop the fallout from the euro zone sovereign debt crisis wreaking more damage on the world economy and the further direction to the markets is likely to come from the opening of the European markets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 15,968.66, down by 193.40 points or 1.20%. The index has touched a high and low of 16,209.19 and 15,928.96 respectively. There were just 6 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The broader indices too were in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 1.16% and 0.97% respectively.

None of the sectoral gauges were in green while, CD down by 3.35%, Metal down by 2.99%, Oil & Gas  down by 1.88%, CG down by 1.68% and PSU down by 1.58% were the top losers on the index.

The gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 2.04%, Wipro up by 1.33%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.43%, TCS up by 0.24%, Cipla up by 0.14% and Bharti Airtel was up by 0.04%

On the flip side Sterlite Inds., down by 4.77%, Coal India down by 4.61%, Hindalco down by 4.17%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.42% and HDFC Bank down by 3.20% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has rejected B K Chaturvedi’s committee report, where forest clearance procedures were leading to up to six years of delays in coal projects, the Ministry said, it disposes majority of the cases within a year. The MoEF in its official document said ‘after receipt in the Ministry, majority of the cases are decided within one year. Disposal of only 25% proposals take more than a year.’

In June 2011, the Group of Minister (GoM) on coal had appointed an expert panel under the observation of the B K Chaturvedi, to examine and suggest steps for regeneration of better quality forests affected by the coal mining, has said that the procedures followed for clearances to projects ‘have led to delays of 3-6 years which are unsustainable.’ Opposing the observation of B K Chaturvedi committee, constituted at the instance of GoM on Coal, MoEF also attributed the delays mainly to ‘the delay in submission of the essential information/document by the state government/user agency concerned.’

The expert committee has also identified problems in identification of compensatory affforestation, land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement measures as the main reasons for the delays in granting clearance to the projects. The expert panel made around 18 recommendations, however, the ministry has agreed on only eight suggestions.

The Maharatna Company Coal India (CIL), which account for 80% of the India’s coal production has frequently said that a number of its projects are getting delayed in forest and environment clearances. As per the CIL Chairman, N C Jha, despite the in-principle clearance from MoEF, which gets delayed by up to six years, final clearance takes an equally long time. According to the rules, the forest clearances should be granted within 300 days.

The CIL says its 168 projects are pending for ministry clearance at state and central government. Around 114 projects of the public sector firm are awaiting Stage-I clearances (In-Principle Approval), out of which 92 projects are waiting for green signal at the state level, which the remaining are pending before the MoEF for clearance. And around 54 projects are stuck for stage-II clearance i.e. final approval including 31 at the state level.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,806.75, down by 61.00 points or 1.25%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,879.80 and 4,796.95 respectively. There were just 3 stocks advancing against 47 declines on the index.

The gainers of the Nifty were Wipro up by 1.10%, Dr Reddy up by 0.53% and TCS up by 0.07%.

On the other hand, Sterlite Inds down by 4.53%, Hindalco down by 4.26%, Cairn down by 3.99%, Sesa Goa down by 3.74% and Bajaj Auto down by 3.01% were the major losers on the index.

All the other Asian indices too were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down by 0.50%, Hang Seng was down by 1.79%, Jakarta Composite has plunged by 4.01%, KLSE Composite was down by 2.84%, Straits Times was down by 1.84%, Seoul Composite was down by 2.45% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 2.03%.