Benchmark equity indices continue to trade in red terrain

Benchmark equity indices continue to trade listlessly in red terrain on account of sustained selling pressure by funds and retail investors, in absence of positive trigger, amidst weak trend in the Asian pacific region. Continued worries over country’s political stability combined with looming concerns over possible debt default by Cyprus, has sapped the risk appetite of investors. Although retreating from day’s low, Sensex, is trading below the crucial 18750 level, with loss of over quarter percentage, likewise, 50 share index, Nifty, is trading flat at its previous close, holding above the 5650 bastion. Meanwhile, broader indices facing accentuated selling pressure are trading with a cut of over 0.75%. On the global front, Asian pacific shares continued to hover near 2013 lows as Cyprus scrambled to find a solution to its funding crisis and concern over the health of the euro zone mounted. Back home, sharp plunge of Consumer Durable, Realty and Oil & Gas counters, also were weighing on the sentiment. However, exceptional trend in Banking, Capital Goods and Power stocks capped the further losses of the bourses. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which have piped advances in the ratio of 1759:732, while 119 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18733.45, down by 59.42 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 18838.94 and 18707.30. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.75% and Small cap index was down by 1.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.08%, Capital Goods up by 0.07% and Power up by 0.06% and while, Consumer Durables down by 1.86%, Realty down by 1.19%, Oil & Gas down by 0.98%, PSU down by 0.97% and Information Technology down by 0.70% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.57%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.05%, Tata Power up by 1.64%, Hindalco up by 1.36% and NTPC up by 0.91%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.98%, Tata Motors down by 1.48%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.41%, Sun Pharma down by 1.28% and SBI down by 1.27% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, National Food Security Bill, which got Cabinet’s approval earlier this week, will be presented in the Parliament on March 22, with a hope that the revised bill will see the light of the day before the current session draws to an end on May 10. Under the revised Food Security Bill, 67% of India’s population will have the right to get a monthly quota of 5 kg of food-grains at highly subsidized rates of Rs 1-3 per kg, which means atleast 5 kg of food grains would be guaranteed to one person per month under the bill, with the poorest of the poor continuing to get 35 kg per month.

Earlier, it was reported that Cabinet would try to bring ‘amendments to the Food Bill in Parliament before Friday'. Uptill now, 55-56 amendment bills have been made in-line with the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, which submitted its report in January this year.

With the hope that this decision to supply cheap wheat and  rice will fetch government with rich dividends in the next general election, the price of Rice to be sold through ration shops has been fixed at Rs 3 per kg, wheat at Rs 2 and millets at Re 1 in the first three years of the implementation of the Act, which is way lower than the market price of over Rs 20/kg for rice and Rs 16/kg for wheat. However, the right to decide on the beneficiaries would be in the hands of state government, while the rights to exclude 33% of population will be of Planning Commissions.

In the previous bill that was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the Centre had proposed 7 kg of rice or wheat or millet a month for priority category at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg respectively, while at least 3 kg per person per month for general households at 50 percent of support price. However, this time around the bill proposes only one category of beneficiary with uniform entitlement at uniform price.

 Further, laying more burden on state government, the bill envisages liability of the central government under the Right to Food Security to be limited uptill providing grains to the state food depots, with the former being charged penalty if it fails to provide these gains to the intended beneficiaries. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,652.70, down by 6.05 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 5,676.80 and 5,641.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 4.14%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.61%, IDFC up by 3.08%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.48% and Reliance Infrastructure up by 2.30%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 3.10%, DLF down by 2.19%, ONGC down by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.39% and Tata Motors down by 1.37% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red;, Hang Seng declined by 0.59%, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.19%, Nikkei 225 was down by 2.35%, Straits Times declined 0.12%, KOSPI Composite fell by 0.11%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.20% and KLSE Composite was trading lower by 0.%

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite up  by 0.21%was the only gainer.