Markets slip after positive start

Indian equity benchmarks, after a positive opening have turned into red terrain in early deals on Monday as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of April-November fiscal deficit reading, due on Tuesday, and the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for December, due on Thursday, which will help them gain insights into the extent of the economic slowdown. However, losses remained capped after the CII Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose sharply to 54.9 during the October-December period of 2013-14 fiscal, from 45.7 in the previous quarter. Also, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that the economic growth rate was expected to be at 7.5-8 percent next year.

On the global front, the US markets ended marginally lower in last session lacking any major economic release, while majority of traders remained in holiday mood. However, all the Asian markets are exhibiting firm trade at this point of time and Japanese market was trading higher as the yen touched a five-year low versus the dollar.

Back home, public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) like BPCL, HPCL and IOC remained under pressure on talks of increasing the subsidized cylinder cap for households. Meanwhile, telecom stocks witnessed mixed trend after the government delayed the planned mobile phone spectrum auction in the 900 and 1800 megahertz frequency bands by 10 days from the original schedule, it will now start on February 3. On the sectoral front, metal witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by auto and consumer durables, while capital goods, software and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader, however, were trading slightly in the green, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 724 shares on the gaining side against 499 shares on the losing side while 52 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21260.15; about 66 point higher compared to its previous closing of 21193.58, and has touched a high and a low of 21304.70 and 21123.30 respectively. The index is currently trading at 21154.75, down by 38.83 points or 0.18%. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 56.35% stocks advancing against 39.42% declines. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up by 0.07% and Small cap index up 0.05%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Metal up by 0.34%, Auto up by 0.31%, Consumer Durables up by 0.08% and Healthcare up by 0.02%, while Capital Goods down by 0.81%, IT down by 0.65%, Realty down by 0.56%, Power down by 0.44% and Teck down by 0.42% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 1.27%, Tata Motors up by 1.24%, Coal India up by 1.15%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.91% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.19%, Wipro was down by 1.15%, L&T was down by 1.10%, Infosys was down by 1.02% and ONGC was down by 0.67% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In order to speed up clearances of infrastructure projects at the state level, the environment ministry has eased the environmental clearance process for industry particularly at the state level. The move is likely to expedite the implementation of various infrastructure projects relating to mining of minor minerals, river sand mining, thermal power plants with less than 5MW capacity. As per the new guidelines, public hearings or environmental impact assessment would not be required for projects relating to brick earth and ordinary earth mining with lease areas between 5 and 25 hectares or for thermal power plants using coal, lignite, naphtha and gas, with generating capacity of 5 MW or less.

The environment ministry has also re-categorised projects like mineral beneficiation plants, small thermal power plants, cement plants, metallurgical industries, leather and hide processing industries. Presently, infrastructure projects that require clearances at the state level are referred to as 'category B' projects with two sub-categories such as B1 and B2. Sub-category B1 includes projects that require an environmental impact assessment and public consultation before clearance by the state authority or its counterpart in the Union Territories. On the other hand, Sub-category B2 projects would be assessed for clearance on the basis of an application and a pre-feasibility report.

The infrastructure development is the most critical prerequisite for sustaining the present growth momentum of the economy. Meanwhile in order to expedite the implementation of infra projects, the government has been taking various measures. Recently, it has set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to accord fast track clearances to large projects. Untill now, the CCI had cleared 209 projects worth Rs 3.84 lakh crore. Meanwhile, for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), the government has set the $1-trillion investment target for the infrastructure sector.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,336.40; about 22 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,313.80, and has touched a high and a low of 6,344.05 and 6,287.70 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,296.60, down by 17.20 points or 0.27%. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 declines and one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Coal India up by 1.24%, SSLT up by 1.17%, Tata Motors up by 1.06%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.92% and NMDC up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cements down by 1.73%, JP Associate down by 1.58%, DLF down by 1.57%, ACC down by 1.39% and Kotak Bank down by 1.24% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 1.30 points or 0.06% to 2,102.55, Hang Seng increased 18.35 points or 0.08% to 23,261.59, Jakarta Composite gained 35.84 points or 0.85% to 4,248.82, KLSE Composite strengthened 2.27 points or 0.12% to 1,863.33, Nikkei 225 surged 51.60 points or 0.32% to 16,230.54, Straits Times edged higher 5.09 points or 0.16% to 3,154.85, Seoul Composite added 0.60 points or 0.03% to 2,002.88 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 59.74 points or 0.70% to 8,594.78.