Sensex, Nifty continues weak trade

Indian equities continued its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments on the street due to global cues were on so pessimistic note that investors shrugged off positive macro-economic indicators, which suggests India’s services sector reporting a growth at its strongest pace in three months during December. Traders were seen piling some position in PSU, Oil & Gas and IT sectors while selling was witnessed in Metal, FMCG and Auto sectors. In the scrip specific movement, DLF is trading under pressure after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) modified the buyer-builder agreement in the case of ‘abuse of dominance’ by the country’s largest realty player. Bajaj Hindusthan is trading in red after touching a 52-week low after the company decided to pull out of the Rs 10,000 crore power project. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) were trading firm on reports that the government would accept Rangarajan Panel’s recommendations on gas pricing which will raise prices of domestic natural gas. Ramkrishna Forgings is trading in green after the company decided to issue shares to International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a promoter entity on preferential basis. Oil marketing companies Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) were trading firm on hopes of hike in diesel price by Re 1 per month.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite and Nikkei 225 while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,000 and 19,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1333:1452 while 129 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,731.28, down by 33.50 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 19,790.58 and 19,679.99. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were up by 0.13% and 0.26% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, PSU up by 0.96%, Oil & Gas up by 0.89%, IT up by 0.53%, TECk up by 0.43% and Power up by 0.15% while, Metal down by 1.32%, FMCG down by 0.62%, Auto down by 0.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.28% and Bankex down by 0.22% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.52%, Wipro up by 1.28%, BHEL up by 1.09%, TCS up by 0.91% and ICICI Bank up by 0.78%.

On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 2.34%, Tata Steel down by 1.98%, Jindal Steel down by 1.84%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.64%, and HDFC was down by 1.42% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram headed Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on Coal Regulator bill to be held on January 4 has been postponed yet again due to unavailability of a few ministers. The Cabinet had referred the draft Bill to a ministerial panel for setting up a regulatory authority for the coal sector. Earlier a meeting on December 18 was also postponed due to winter session of parliament.

The main agenda of the meeting was to set-up an independent regulator for the coal sector, which is considered important for improving the competitiveness in e-auctions, fixing guidelines for price revision in supply pacts, setting trading margins and increasing transparency in the allocation of reserves.

The recommendation of setting up a coal sector regulator came from Shankar Committee and country’s Integrated Energy Policy. A few states and other stakeholders have also been demanding setting-up of the coal regulator.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,998.20, down by 11.30 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 6,011.95 and 5,981.55. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 2.52%, BPCL up by 2.47%, Wipro up by 1.28%, HCL Technologies up by 1.28% and Gail India up by 0.99%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 2.22%, Tata Steel down by 2.15%, Sesa Goa down by 1.96%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.75% and HDFC down by 1.59% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng declined 0.29%, KLSE Composite slipped 0.12%, Straits Times declined 0.08%, KOSPI Composite contracted 0.37%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.39% and Jakarta Composite too edged lower by 0.07%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite advanced 0.35% and Nikkei 225 was up by 2.82%.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.21%, Germany’s DAX descended 0.18% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 lost 0.04%.