Benchmarks add losses; Nifty holds 5,800 mark

Indian equity markets added losses to continue their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from European counterparts. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Realty and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in PSU, IT and Auto sector stocks. Aviation stocks SpiceJet, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways was trading in green while Telecom company stocks Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communication, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and MTNL were too trading in green. A key panel led by economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram has reportedly called for hiking the foreign investment caps in nearly all sectors, including defence and telecom, and permitting automatic approval to proposals entailing 49% foreign equity infusion. Besides, TRAI had allowed telecom service providers the option of either charging a flat upfront fee or rates set by TRAI, for roaming services. In another scrip specific development, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was trading in red after US-based drug maker AbbVie Inc, the spun-off entity of Abbott, dragged the company to court for allegedly infringing the patented drug Zemplar. IDFC was trading firm on securing board nod for applying for banking license.

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading in red barring Nikkei 225 while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading around their psychological 5,800 and 19,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1116:1073, while 134 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19177.71, down by 45.57 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 19234.48 and 19100.13. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade in fine contour; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indexes were trading up by 0.42% and 0.33% respectively.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 1.25%, Realty up by 0.16% and TECK was up by 0.02%, while PSU down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.68%, Auto down by 0.64%, Power down by 0.58% and Capital Goods down by 0.41% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.90%, Tata Steel up by 2.55%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.73% and Hindalco Industries up by 1.28%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.80%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.60%, ONGC down by 1.57%, Tata Motors down by 1.53% and Coal India down by 1.44% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to speed up the implementation of large infrastructure projects, the government is creating a new platform for India Inc to directly tackle hurdles stalling big infra projects. The cabinet secretariat is reportedly launching a portal where corporates can upload basic details about their projects and the specific government clearances at the state or central levels. With this move, the firms can directly manage' their paperwork with ministries and state governments. The decision is being taken in view of private investment not showing any improvement, gripped in red tape six months after the Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) was formed.

Further, to remove issue like discussing each project with multiple departments as per the traditional approach, it has been proposed that cabinet secretariat would facilitate intensive and focused tripartite discussions involving the ministry 'sponsoring' a project and the one whose nod is necessary for its implementation. 

Recently, the government has set up a special cell in cabinet secretariat to expedite pending projects and Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the cell would strive to expedite 241 projects worth Rs 7 lakh crore, out of total stalled investment plans of Rs 10.5 lakh crore. According to him if all goes according to the plan mooted by the cell, around Rs 1 lakh crore of investments could get off the ground over the next three months.

The government has identified the development of infrastructure as a most critical condition to boost the economy’s growth. For the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,802.05, down by 11.55 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 5,810.40 and 5,777.90. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 2.67%, Tata Steel up by 2.51%, Sesa Goa up by 2.40%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.37% and Hindalco Industries up 1.58%. On the flip side, UltraTech Cement down by 1.87%, Tata Motors down by 1.78%, NTPC down by 1.70%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.59% and ONGC was down 1.45% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 0.73%, Hang Seng dropped 1.13%, Jakarta Composite slipped 0.57%, Straits Times contracted 0.40%, KOSPI Composite was down by 0.65%, KLSE Composite inched lower 0.07% and Taiwan Weighted down by 0.05%.  On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 1.83%. 

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.33%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.39% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower 0.45%.