Benchmarks trim partial portion of their losses; sugar stocks stage smart rally

Benchmark equity indices, trimming partial portion of their losses are trading off day’s low level in afternoon deals on emergence of lower level buying. However, the mood continues to remain somber in the backdrop of negative global set-up and absence of any positive triggers at home front. Investors lightened their position in morning deals after Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) pegged India's FY-14 growth at 3.4%, almost same as the 3.3% growth recorded last year.  However, off day’s low, both Sensex and Nifty, were holding above the crucial 20,800 and 6,150 levels respectively, with loss of over quarter of a percent. 

On Global front, Asian shares mostly tracked Wall Street stocks lower on Wednesday but dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke helped to limit their losses. Fed Chairman Bernanke reiterated the Fed would maintain its ultra-easy policy for as long as needed and would taper bond-buying only when it was sure that labour market improvements would continue.

Closer home, sectorally, Realty, Power and Public Sector Undertaking counters were the shining stars of the session, while Banking, Health Care and Technology were the major links of trade. Meanwhile, sugar stocks are witnessing smart rally ahead of informal meeting held today to resolve the ongoing sugar crisis in Uttar Pradesh. The meeting will be attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Aviation Minister Ajit Singh.  The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which were outpacing declines in the ratio of 1185:1002; while 136 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20810.82, down by 80.00 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 20,880.03 and 20,764.82. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declining on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade with vigor; with BSE Mid cap index trading higher by 0.43% and Small cap index holding up by 0.63%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.70%, Power up by 0.80%, PSU up by 0.47%, Oil and Gas up by 0.28%, and Metal up by 0.25%. While, Bankex down by 0.81%, Healthcare down by 0.56%, Teck down by 0.51%, Auto down by 0.46%, and IT down by 0.39% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 1.78%, BHEL up by 1.31%, ONGC up by 1.26%, Coal India up by 1.23%, SSLT up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Cipla and ICICI Bank were down by 1.62% each, Hindalco Inds down by 1.33%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.29%, and L&T down by 1.09%.were the major losers on the Sensex

Meanwhile, in a move to accelerate the flow of long-term investments in various infrastructure projects and to provide a boost to country’s infrastructure development, the government is planning to establish infrastructure trust fund soon. This infrastructure fund is to be set on the same lines, as the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) prevalent in other countries. Under the infrastructure trust fund structure, underlying revenue of projects will be transferred to a trust and the trust will then issue units to investors, including foreign investors, who want to buy the units.

The government has identified development of infrastructure in the country a most critical prerequisite for supporting the growth momentum of the economy. It has been taking various measures to help fund the infrastructure sector, which is estimated to require around $1 trillion investment for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). 

The government has also introduced Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF), which is aimed at accelerating and enhancing flow of long term debt for funding infrastructure development. Recently, India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) launched its first Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF) with targeted initial corpus of $1 billion. Further, in order to speed up the implementation of infrastructure projects, the government has also set up Cabinet Committee of Investment (CCI) and special project monitoring group. Furthermore, ‘Public Private Partnership (PPP)' programme has also been implemented in order to bring in adequate resources for setting up of a sound and efficient infrastructural base.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,180.05, down by 23.30 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 6,198.70 and 6,163.50. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.77%, Tata Powers up by 1.58%, ACC up by 1.39%, BHEL up by 1.30%, and NMDC up by 1.22%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.79%, Cipla down by 1.78%, Hindalco down by 1.73%, BPCL down by 1.40% and L&T down by 1.24% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng up by 0.26%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.67%, Seoul Composite down by 0.71%, KLSE Composite down by 0.41%, Straits Times down by 0.10%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.56% and Nikkei 225 down by 0.33%.