Indian equity continue lackadaisical trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued its lackadaisical trade above neutral line in the late afternoon session in absence of any upside trigger. Investors opted to stay away from taking position in risky assets ahead of the Union Budget 2013-14, Economic Survey of India and the Railway Budget to be released in the later week. Traders were seen piling some position in Realty, TECk and IT sector while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Auto and Metal sector. In the scrip specific development, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) was trading in red after research firm Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the company to sell from neutral, on expectations that India’s economy would recover at a modest pace and there are rising prospect of competition for the company. SKF India was trading under pressure after touching a new 52-week low on drop in Q4 profits. Prestige Estates Projects was trading in red after the research firm UBS downgraded the stock with a sell rating and cut its target price.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,850 and 19,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1264:1342 while 148 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,329.00, up by 3.64 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 19,367.11 and 19,289.83. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18% and Small cap index was higher by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.85%, TECk up by 1.50%, IT up by 1.12%, Oil & Gas up by 0.73% and Health Care up by 0.44%, while FMCG down by 1.57%, Auto down by 0.34%, Metal down by 0.23% and Consumer Durables down by 0.06% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.22%, Wipro up by 2.82%, Sun Pharma up by 1.63%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.60% and Infosys up by 1.38%.

On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.97%, HDFC was down by 1.91%, ITC was down by 1.55%, Tata Motors was down by 1.43% and Coal India down by 1.41% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, concerned over the industrial unrest witnessed during the two-day nation-wide strike, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, revival in economic growth will help combat industrial tension. As per Ahluwalia, when the industry is back into a normal state, many other tensions like strikes and spiraling prices will go down. 

Around 11 trade unions have called a strike on February 20 and 21 against strict enforcement of labour laws, spiraling prices, creation of social security net for workers in unorganized sector as well as raising minimum wages to Rs 10,000 per month, among others. Industry body Assocham said that the GDP may lose about Rs 26,000 crore due to the strike which has impacted industrial activity and services such as banking and finance.

While addressing an event on leveraging employment generation in the 12th Five Year Plan, Ahluwalia stated the need of public private partnership (PPP) for employment generation and skill development as the number of people in India is not skilled.

Earlier also Ahluwalia emphasized on the fact that the government need to make sure that the young generation are educated and equipped with both the educational and skill weapons in order to deal with rapidly changing and increasingly globalizing world, which is a huge challenge for the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,853.85, up by 1.60 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 5,862.30 and 5,835.80. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.15%, DLF up by 4.04%, Wipro up by 2.77%, Power Grid up by 2.11% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.54%.

On the flip side, HUL down by 2.46%, JP Associate down by 2.23%, HDFC down by 2.02%, Siemens down by 1.73%, and Tata Motors down by 1.73%, were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite strengthened 0.03%, Nikkei 225 increased 0.68%, KOSPI Composite surged 0.18% and KLSE Composite was up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite down by 0.51%, Hang Seng down by 0.54%, Straits Times down by 0.06% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.12% were the losers amongst the Asian pack.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 added 1.00%, Germany’s DAX strengthen 0.56% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.71%.