Benchmarks trade flat in early deals

Indian equity indices, after witnessing five consecutive downfalls, have made a flat start as investors remained anxious in the absence of any positive fundamental trigger. Continuing worries over the country’s political stability dampened the trading sentiment while, some pressure also came in after, fertilizer stocks like National Fertilizers, Nagarjuna Fertilizers, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers, Chambal Fertilisers, Gujarat State Fertilisers and Coromandel International went through the floor as subsidy payment worth Rs 31,580 crore is likely to remain outstanding to the manufacturers this fiscal.

The global cues too remained unsupportive as the US markets once again slipped into cautious mood and the major indices ended lower by half to one percent overnight while, most of the Asian counters were trading muted at this point of time on fears that Cyprus may default on its debt, while deteriorating euro zone economic activity further underscored the troubles ailing the region. Back home, on the sectoral front, auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by capital goods and fast moving consumer goods while, realty, consumer durables and technology remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were struggling to get some traction and were trading with a cut of about a percentage point while, the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 595 shares on the gaining side against 1,262 shares on the losing side while 91 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,784.93; about 7 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18,792.87, and has touched a high and a low of 18,838.94 and 18,760.78 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,770.95, down by 21.92 points or 0.12%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a weak start with 30.25% stocks advancing against 65.85% declines. The broader indices were trading in-line with benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices declined by 0.86% and 0.88% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.38%, Capital Goods up by 0.21% and FMCG up by 0.19% while, Realty down by 1.54%, Consumer Durables down by 1.49%, Teck down by 1.23%, IT down by 1.11% and Oil & Gas down by 0.30% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.78%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.65%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.64%, Coal India up by 1.14% and HDFC Bank up by 1.09%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.63%, Infosys was down by 2.63%, Tata Steel was down by 1.36%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.03% and SBI was down by 0.85% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, relieving apprehensions over the impact of the changing political scenario on policy reforms, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said there will be no let-up in the government's effort to continue with the economic reforms and it will go ahead for meetings with foreign investors to persuade them to invest in India. His statement came a day after key ally DMK withdrew support from the UPA Government over India’s stance on Sri Lanka at the United Nations.

Chidambaram said ‘it is true that one ally has withdrawn support. Still, the government enjoys majority and will continue to do its duty. The government will continue to take executive action to push legislation in Parliament.’  By adding further, he said that the government will not waiver in its commitment to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.8% in 2013-14 from 5.2% estimated in the current financial year.

To convince investors to invest in India, Chidambaram is scheduled to meet foreign investors in major financial hubs like Japan, UAE, Canada and the United States in the coming weeks. The government is also planning to push through key economic reform Bills in areas such as insurance, pension and corporate law in the ongoing Budget Session. The first part of the session will end on March 22, and the House will re-assemble on April 22.

However, the government lacks numbers in Rajya Sabha after the withdrawal of support by DMK. With this, the government may have a tough time in taking up key legislations in the Lok Sabha, as well.

The CNX Nifty opened at 5,659.80; about 1 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 5,658.75, and has touched a high and a low of 5,676.80 and 5,652.85 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,659.55, up by 0.80 points or 0.01%. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.67%, Ambuja Cements up by 1.57%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.55% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.49%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.57%, DLF down by 2.19%, JP Associate down by 1.72%, Ranbaxy down by 1.62% and Tata Steel down by 1.24%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Straits Times rose 0.96 points or 0.03% to 3,268.61, Shanghai Composite jumped 3.08 points or 0.13% to 2,327.32, KLSE Composite increased 1.69 points or 0.10% to 1,632.44, KOSPI Composite added 0.26 points or 0.01% to 1,951.08 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 12.11 points or 0.16% to 7,823.95.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined by 95.80 points or 0.43% to 22,130.08, Jakarta Composite decreased 1.90 points or 0.04% to 4,800.77 and Nikkei 225 was down by 168.52 points or 1.33 to 12,467.17.