Sensex, Nifty moves in tight band amid volatile trade

Following a positive start and a subsequent downturn, Indian equity markets regained some strength in the late morning session on Monday. Benchmarks were moving in a tight band amid alternate bouts of buying and selling. Investors were waiting for big triggers like pending share sale in state-run MMTC and SAIL, which might boost the market. In currency markets, rupee depreciated against greenback amid increasing dollar demand from oil importers. On sectoral front, realty, consumer durables, healthcare, banks and PSU stocks were trading firm, while capital goods, FMCG and oil stocks were trading lower. In global markets, majority of bourses in Asia remained closed for the Lunar New Year. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,114 shares on the gaining side against 1,229 shares on the losing side while 137 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,499.77 up by 15.00 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 19,543.44 and 19,416.94. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index and one remains unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13% and Small cap index was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.01%, Consumer Durables up by 0.63%, Health Care up by 0.59%, Bankex up by 0.51% and PSU up by 0.35% while, Capital Goods down by 0.29%, FMCG down by 0.26% and Oil & Gas down by 0.03% were top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 2.68%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.55%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.93%, Tata Motors up by 1.75% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.49%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.46%, ONGC down by 1.42%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.21%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.16% and ITC down by 0.90% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, worried over delays in new projects and to overcome the constraints regarding clearances from multiple agencies, the draft National Steel policy has proposed an online single e-window system and sought enhancement of powers of the existing Inter-Ministerial Group, among other issues.

As per the draft policy, to overcome constraints related to clearances, the government will consider introduction of a transparent and easy system for submission and tracking of status of applications for grant of resources/clearances from multiple governmental agencies through an online single e-window in consonance with national e-governance plan.

The new policy draft seeks to replace the existing one that was formulated in 2005 and suggest ways to create an environment conducive for the growth of the industry that is weighed down by the issues like land acquisition and raw material scarcity. It stated that strong social resistance to land acquisition and conversion of agricultural land to industrial land even at adequate offer of monetary compensation and securitization are the major hurdles. 

The new steel policy is focused to push up the big steel projects like Arcelor-Mittal, Posco and many others, worth around Rs 3 lakh crore, which could not take off because of various issues such as land acquisition and delay in environmental clearances, among others. Further, the steel policy has also considered the involvement of a large number of agencies in project clearances as a major hurdle in 'creation of green field steel capacities.'

Recognizing lack of raw material security, as a major constraint in increasing steel capacity, the draft said 'lack of raw material security has been one of the major causes for tardy progress of steel capacity expansion. The government will consider to further strengthen the provisions of allocation of captive iron mines to steel producers in a transparent manner through a process of open bidding for all the well prospected mines'.

The new steel policy draft has also suggested enhancing the powers of the existing Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for more effective co-ordination to cut delays in project implementation and resolution of conflicts, expressed hope that the new land Acquisition Act, R&R Policy and provisions of the proposed MMDR Act will address the issues soon. Meanwhile, the draft has projected India's iron ore requirement to increase to 392 MT by 2025-26, from around 200 MT at present.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,907.40 up by 3.90 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 5,924.15 and 5,879.10. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.95%, Cipla up by 2.94%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories up by 2.62%, Tata Motors up by 1.93% and Sesa Goa up by 1.47%.

On the flip side, IDFC down by 2.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.71%, ACC down by 1.51%, ONGC down by 1.45% and Maruti down by 1.21%, were the major losers on the index.

Majority of bourses in Asia remained shuttered for the Lunar New Year, except Jakarta Composite was up 0.35%. Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia are all closed. Malaysia will reopen on February 12, Hong Kong and Singapore will resume trading on February 13 and Taiwan will reopen on February 14.