Benchmarks continue lackadaisical trade in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading slightly in the green in a range bound trade in afternoon trade on Wednesday as investors remained cautious over the forthcoming Fed taper decision. The outcome of the US Fed meeting will also be considered by the RBI to set its monetary policy outlook on September 20. Among sectors, Realty, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Healthcare were gaining while Services, Metal and Banking stocks were the laggards. On stock specific movement, Dr Reddys Lab, Hindustan Unilever and Cipla were trading up by over 1.8 percent; while, HDFC and BHEL were trading over 1.5 percent lower on BSE. The market breadth remained positive, out of 1,998 stocks traded, 1021 stocks advanced, while 851 stocks declined on the BSE. On global front, Asian equity indices were trading mixed with Hang Seng and Jakarta Composite shares fell as markets expect that Federal Reserve to launch only a modest scaling back of stimulus later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,832.52 up by 28.49 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 19,900.68 and 19,775.29. There were only 19 stocks advancing against 11 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 1.20%, FMCG up by 0.83%, Consumer Durables up by 0.82%, and Healthcare up by 0.64%. While, Power down by 0.21%, and Auto down by 0.09%, were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.96%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.84%, Cipla up by 1.80%, Wipro up by 1.61% and Coal India up by 1.38%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.84%, BHEL down by 1.90%, Mahindra and Mahindra down by 1.09%, HDFC Bank down by 0.75% and Sesa Goa down by 0.58% were the only losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in order to track the execution of expressway projects, the government plans to set up a panel comprising senior officials from the highways ministry, department of expenditure and the Planning Commission. The panel will hold periodic meetings to review the progress being made in implementing the expressway projects by the vertical set up under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last month and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will review their observations.

A project review earlier this month, which found highways authority's blueprints and groundwork for three expressway projects put on the fast track by the PMO in July lacking in multiple aspects. The projects review revealed that the NHAI is yet to resolve technical and other parameters in the Supreme Court-mandated Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the Delhi-Meerut and Mumbai Vadodara expressways. Referring to 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), the review said that the earthwork required to build the highway may not even be available in the vicinity and will now be necessary to re-examine the design and its cost implications. Further, it added that changes would also be required in project of 125-km Delhi-Meerut expressway and there is need to send a modified proposal to the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee.

The government has identified the development of infrastructure as a most crucial 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 and has entered into the 'Public Private Partnership (PPP)' programme in order to bring in adequate resources for setting up of a sound and efficient infrastructural base.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,856.85 up by 6.65 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 5,877.90 and 5,840.20. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.63%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.07%, Ranbaxy up by 1.88%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.77% and Cipla up by 1.64%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.79%, Cairn down by 2.24%, BHEL down by 1.90%, Power Grid down by 1.58% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.26% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite up by 0.29%, Nikkei 225 was up by 1.35% and Straits Times up by 0.60%. While, Seoul Composite down by 7.79%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.49%, Hang Seng down by 0.04%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.63%  and KLSE Composite down by 0.22%.