Benchmarks trade marginally in green in morning deals

After making a negative start, Indian equity benchmarks have turned marginally in the green in the morning deals as some support came in from report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 252.26 crore on July 19, 2013. Buying in Auto and Banking counter supported the up-move. Stocks related to retail space too remained on the buyers’ radar on report that DIPP, in order to accommodate some demands of global retailers, has circulated the draft of a Cabinet note seeking views of different ministries to ease FDI norms in multi-brand segment. However, the gains remained capped as investor remained cautious related to the slow growth in Indirect tax collection. During April-June quarter of current fiscal, the indirect tax collection grew by mere 4.7% to Rs 1.11 lakh crore, mainly on account of decline in excise duty collection.

Global cues too remained sluggish The US markets witnessed a lackluster trade on Friday on getting some weak earnings from the tech sector heavy weights. While, Asian equity indices were exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time with Japanese Nikkei was struggling to remain in green, as an initial rally sparked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s big election win over the weekend fizzled with profit taking that emerged after the yen bounced off lows.

Back home, sentiments also got dented after index heavyweight Reliance Industries declined over one and a half percent. The company reported 18.9% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 5,352 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. However, net sales, declined by 4.6% yoy to Rs 87,645 crore mainly due to 42% yoy fall in revenue from its oil and gas business. Gas production from KG D6 block declined 52.9% yoy to 15mmscmd. On the sectoral front, auto witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by banking and realty, while oil and gas, capital goods and power remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were going neck-to-neck with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 692 shares on the gaining side against 493 shares on the losing side while 51 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20096.71; about 53 points lower compared to its previous closing of 20149.85, and has touched a high and a low of 20209.69 and 20065.69 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 20184.95, up by 35.10 points or 0.17%. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 55.99% stocks advancing against 39.89% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap up by 0.50% and Small cap indices up by 0.13%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.16%, Bankex up by 0.71%, Realty up by 0.64%, FMCG up by 0.09% and Health Care up by 0.08%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.00%, Capital Goods down by 0.50%, Power down by 0.48%, Consumer Durables down by 0.44% and Metal down by 0.11% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.67%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.03%, Tata Motors up by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.30% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.00%.  On the flip side, BHEL was down by 4.14%,  RIL was down by 1.86%, Tata Steel was down by 1.12%, Gail India was down by 1.11% and Dr Reddys Lab was down by 0.60% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, despite raising concerns over economic slowdown and volatility in foreign exchange markets, is hopeful that the government’s steps will show their impact soon. “The impact of initiatives taken by the government will be felt in the second half of the current fiscal,' Manmohan Singh said.

He also assured that his government will leave no stone unturned to ensure the recovery of the economy. Further, while underscoring that the basic fundamentals remain sound and healthy, PM said that the government is committed to bringing the situation under control.

Amidst rising concerns over the volatility in the Indian markets and the rupee, there have been many steps announced by the government in the past few days. The government in a bid to boost the sagging economy, decided to hike Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 13 sectors, including 100 per cent in telecom and higher caps in insurance and defence sectors.

Further, allaying the mounting fears that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may hike interest rates in its monetary policy review on July 30, Prime Minister stated that steps taken by the central bank to stabilise rupee do not signal a rise in rates.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,009.75; about 19 points lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,029.20, and has touched a high and a low of 6,048.10 and 6,004.25 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 6,039.90, up by 10.70 points or 0.18%. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.73%, Bajaj-Auto up by 2.15%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.84%, Tata Motors up by 1.78% and IndusInd Bank up by 1.47%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.74%, Ambuja Cements down by 3.33%, Reliance Industries down by 1.81%, UltraTech Cement down by 1.54% and Tata Steel down by 1.24% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite declined by 10.44 points or 0.52% to 1,982.21, Hang Seng dropped 47.19 points or 0.22% to 21,315.23, Jakarta Composite contracted 21.97 points or 0.47% to 4,702.44 and Nikkei 225 was down by 47.69 points or 0.33% to 14,542.22.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite rose 2.41 points or 0.13% to 1,800.15, Straits Times increased 14.64 points or 0.46% to 3,227.90, Seoul Composite added 9.68 points or 0.52% to 1,881.09 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 45.10 points or 0.56% to 8,107.13.