Indian equity indices are trading tad below their neutral lines after a positive start. The sentiments remained somber in early deals as FDI inflows registered 38 percent decline to $22.42 billion in 2012-13 compared to the previous year, despite many efforts of the government. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 504.02 crore on May 31, 2013. Some pressure also came in from selling in Auto stocks after companies like Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra reported weak May auto sales numbers.
Global cues too remained gloomy as US markets suffered sharp cuts on Friday, though there were mixed set of economic numbers but traders were concerned about Fed tapering down its stimulus program soon. Asian markets too were trading mostly in red at this point of time with Japanese Nikkei leading the pack, declining over two and a half percent as capital spending by Japanese companies fell by 3.9 per cent followed an 8.7 per cent annual decline in the final quarter of last year, which was the first decline in five quarters.
Back home, bucking the trend, Infosys is in action after co-founder N R Narayana Murthy was re-inducted into the company’s board as executive chairman and additional director. Meanwhile, public sector oil marketing companies viz. IOC, BPCL and HPCL edged higher after a hike in retail selling prices of petrol and diesel with effect from June 1, 2013. On the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by technology and metal, while auto, power and oil and gas remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 642 shares on the gaining side against 632 shares on the losing side while 69 shares remain unchanged.
The BSE Sensex opened at 19,859.22; about 98 points higher compared to its previous closing of 19,760.30, and has touched a high and a low of 19,860.19 and 19,729.87 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 19,754.94, down by 5.36 points or 0.03%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 16 declines, while one stock remains unchanged on the index.
The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 47.80% stocks advancing against 47.06% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap indices up by 0.39% and Small cap indices up by 0.30%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 2.46%, Teck up by 1.90%, Metal up by 0.30% and Health Care up by 0.26% while, Auto down by 1.17%, Power down by 1.07%, Consumer Durables down by 0.74%, Oil & Gas down by 0.71% and FMCG down by 0.41% were the top losers on the sectoral index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 6.13%, Wipro up by 1.06%, Cipla up by 0.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.91% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.79%.
On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki was down by 3.20%, Bajaj Auto was down by 2.98%, Sun Pharma was down by 1.58%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.50% and NTPC was down by 1.49% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, in a big sigh of relief to the country’s policymakers, India’s fiscal deficit for FY13 came at 4.89% of GDP, which is lower than the budget estimate of 5.2%. The deficit has been contained due to higher non-tax revenue and savings of non-planned expenditure.
The fiscal deficit occurs when a government's total expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates. The government had budgeted revenue realization for FY13 fiscal at Rs 10.38 lakh crore. However, there was some slippage on the direct tax front, while the indirect tax mop up has exceeded the revised estimates. The direct tax collection was estimated at over Rs 5.65 lakh crore and Rs 4.69 lakh crore from indirect taxes. Meanwhile, government’s total expenditure was pegged at Rs 14.30 lakh crore.
The government is committed to check the fiscal deficit and in budget has proposed to lower fiscal deficit to 4.8% of GDP in FY14 and reduce it gradually to 3% by FY17. Earlier, the finance minister had said that fiscal deficit target is a red line that would never be breached and had also exuded confidence that the revenue target for 2013-14 financial year would be achieved as the GDP growth is likely to be over 6%.
The CNX Nifty opened at 5,997.35; about 11 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 5,985.95, and has touched a high and a low of 6,011.00 and 5,970.35 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 5,970.35, down by 9.75 points or 0.16%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Infosys up by 5.79%, Lupin up by 2.01%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.59%, JP Associate up by 0.99% and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 0.76%.
On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.20%, Bajaj-Auto down by 2.99%, Ranbaxy down by 2.38%, Power Grid down by 2.25% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.05%, were the major losers on the index.
Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Jakarta Composite declined 44.13 points or 0.87% to 5,024.49, Nikkei 225 tumbled 348.87 points or 2.53% to 13,425.67, Straits Times slipped 9.90 points or 0.30% to 3,301.47, KOSPI Composite decreased 4.74 points or 0.24% to 1,996.31 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 34.80 points or 0.42% to 8,220.00.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 6.39 points or 0.28% to 2,306.98, Hang Seng added 107.34 points or 0.48% to 22,499.50 and KLSE Composite was up by 2.52 points or 0.14% to 1,771.74.
