Benchmark pare gains; trade near neutral line

Indian equity markets pared gains and were hovering near neutral line in the late afternoon session taking cues from weak global counterparts and lower GDP projection for 2013-14 by PMEAC. The sentiments turned cautious after Prime Minister's economic panel suggested it would be a challenge for the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP in the current year. Traders were seen piling positions in Power, PSU and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, IT and TECK sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) was trading in green after a Group of Ministers (GoM) on revival of BSNL and MTNL decided to refund the money paid by the state-run players for surrendering BWA spectrum worth more than Rs 11,000 crore. Federal Bank was trading in green after the private sector lender’s board approved the split of equity shares. Jyoti Structures too rallied on reports that Aion Capital Partners invested Rs 300 crore in the company.

On the global front, all the Asian markets barring Nikkei 225 and Jakarta Composite ended in red, while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,850 and 19,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1234:951, while 143 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19753.92, down by 27.96 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 19,899.37 and 19,675.68. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.51% and 0.50% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Power up by 2.32%, PSU up by 1.73%, Capital Goods up by 1.70%, Realty was up 1.69% and Auto up by 1.06% while, Consumer Durables down by 1.36%, IT down by 1.31%, TECK down by 1.20% and FMCG down by 0.86% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, BHEL up by 4.90%, Hero Moto Corp up by 2.65%, Tata Power up 2.55%, Coal India up by 2.47% and Mahindra and Mahindra up by 2.46%.

On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.69%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.86%, ITC down by 1.31%, Infosys down by 1.21% and HDFC Bank down by 1.05% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to increase the overseas investment into the country, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed registration and disclosure norms for low-risk foreign investors. The market regulator SEBI also exempted the low-risk overseas entities from tedious paper work, which entail submission of various documents and disclosures to get registered and operate in Indian markets.

SEBI also classified eligible foreign investors under three broad segments as per their risk profile to make portfolio investments in the country. As per the SEBI new norms, investment by foreign investors into government and other sovereign securities will be considered in the lowest-risk - Category I. Well-regulated entities like investment trusts, mutual funds, insurers, banks, university funds and pension funds have been put in the medium-risk - Category II, while corporate bodies, individuals and family offices have been classified in the high-risk - Category III.

Accordingly, the know your client (KYC) requirements- which entails submission of various documents and disclosures to get registered and operate in Indian markets - would be eased for those with low-risk profile Category-I investors. Besides, low risk entities would be exempted from submission of the list, identity proof, address proof and photographs for their ultimate beneficial owners. The SEBI new norms are expected to make it much easier for the foreign investors to enter the country and make investment decisions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,852.45, up by 1.75 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 5,884.30 and 5,822.90. There were 36 stocks advancing against 13 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were PNB up by 5.02%, BHEL up by 5.00%, Reliance Infrastructure up by 4.33%, Axis Bank up by 3.83% and DLF up by 3.42%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.92%, HCL Tech down by 2.82%, Ultra Tech Cement down by 1.92%, ITC down by 1.71% and Infosys down by 1.31% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were mostly trading in red; Seoul Composite down by 0.49%, KLSE Composite down by 0.29%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.86%, Straits Times down by 0.02%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.69%, and Hang Seng down by 0.17% while, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.12% and Jakarta Composite up by 0.26% were the gainers amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.21%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.34% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.33%.