Indian equities trim losses; Sensex above 20,100 mark

Indian equity markets trimmed losses but continued its weak trade hovering below the neutral line in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from subdued European counterparts. The sentiments on the street were also cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) third-quarter monetary policy review scheduled on January 29. Traders were seen piling some position in Realty, Auto and Bankex sectors while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Power sectors. In the scrip specific movement, Lanco Infratech is trading in green on reports that the company is exploring out-of-court settlement with Australia-based Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilizers. Perdaman last year had filed an AUD 3.5 billion lawsuit against Lanco in Australia, alleging non-compliance with fuel supply pact by Griffin Coal for its upcoming urea plant in Western Australia. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed while the European markets were too trading on a mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,050 and 20,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1471:1213 while 106 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,102.35 down by 1.18 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 20,172.45 and 20,062.79. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16% and Small cap index was up by 0.50%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 2.08%, Auto up by 1.03%, Bankex up by 0.70%, IT up by 0.49% and TECk up by 0.38%. While, Oil & Gas down by 1.07%, Consumer Durables down by 0.59%, Power down by 0.39%, Capital Goods down by 0.36% and PSU down 0.33% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 2.18%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.98%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.86%, Tata Motors up by 1.63% and Wipro up by 1.58%.

On the flip side, ONGC was down by 1.82%, Hindustan Unilever  was down by 1.47%, RIL was down by 1.41%, Jindal Steel was down by 0.82% and NTPC was down by 0.82% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in its monthly review report expects investment proposals to see a spurt in the current quarter on the back of Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS) that was held earlier this month. CMIE in its report said ‘we expect new investment announcements to pick up in the January-March quarter. The Vibrant Gujarat investment fair happened recently in Gujarat is likely to contribute the most to this pick-up’.

As per the CMIE report, Narendra Modi's resounding hat-trick in the Gujarat Assembly elections will help Gujarat garner more investment proposals. The sixth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit done in Gandhinagar last week, in which BJP government in the state asserting new investments worth Rs 40 lakh crore.

According to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS) of January 2009 and January 2011, Gujarat's share in total new investments has increased from an average 8.7% during the period April 2002-December 2008 to 37.2% in the March 2009 quarter. The average rate was 10.9% over the period April-June 2009 to October-December 2010 to 32% in the March 2011 quarter.

Further, CMIE report stated that the current fiscal 2012-13 started off well with new announcements worth Rs 2.29 lakh crore in the June 2012 quarter, before dropping to Rs 0.6 lakh crore during the September 2013 quarter and further declined to Rs 0.58 lakh crore in December 2013 quarter, but investment proposals are expected to see a spurt in the current quarter on the back of Summit.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,073.00 down by 1.65 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 6,088.40 and 6,061.40. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 3.19%, Axis Bank up by 2.76%, DLF up by 2.50%, Hindalco Industries up by 2.02% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.81%.

On the flip side, Jaiprakash Associates down by 1.96%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.91%, ONGC down by 1.82%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.75% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.54% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite surged 2.41%, Hang Seng rose 0.39%, Straits Times added 0.24% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.55%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 1.08%, Nikkei 225 slipped 0.94% and KOSPI Composite was down by 0.36%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.10%, Germany’s DAX drop 0.07% while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.04%.