Benchmarks add losses; Bankex, Realty drag

Indian equities added losses to continue weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters taking cues from regional counterparts. The sentiments were on pessimistic note after activity in India's services sector shrank at a faster pace in December as new orders dwindled, surprisingly, despite this firms hired at their fastest pace in five months. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, fell to 46.7 in December from 47.2 in November. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Health Care and Auto stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Realty and IT sector stocks. Hectic activity was witnessed in telecom stock after the Delhi High Court permitted the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to audit the accounts of private telecom operators. Oil marketing companies were hogging limelight as petrol prices were hiked by 75 paise a litre, while diesel by 50 paise. In scrip specific development, RPP Infra Projects was locked at upper circuit limit as its order book jumped to Rs 650.00 crore.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red barring Seoul Composite, while the European markets were trading on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,200 and 20,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1334:979 while 152 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20771.96, down by 79.37 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 20913.79 and 20721.98. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index surged by 0.87%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up 0.52%, Heath Care up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.39% and Consumer Durables up by 0.29% while, Bankex down by 1.21%, Realty down by 0.83%, IT down by 0.71%, TECK down by 0.54% and Power down by 0.48% were the top losing indices. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.32%, Tata Motors up by 1.81%, Sun Pharma up by 1.66%, TCS up by 0.73% and Wipro up by 0.51%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.22%, Tata Powers down by 2.20%, Infosys down by 1.84%, SBI down by 1.49% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.26%.

Meanwhile, in order to speed up the implementation of ultra-mega power projects, the Environment and Forests Ministry has issued a notification that power stations of such projects will no longer be linked to clearance of their captive coal blocks.

As per the earlier rule, mines and power stations were considered a single component for green clearances and until a coal block received stage-I forest clearance, the power plant could not apply for environmental approvals. Such delays in getting approval for a mine impacted the commissioning of the power plants further.

Power Ministry has been urging the Environment Ministry to change the procedure for forest clearance. Meanwhile, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has invited bids for the 4,000 MW project at Bedabahal in Odisha, which is likely to be awarded in February. Nine power developers including Jindal Steel, Power, Tata Power, NTPC and Adani Power are in the fray to bag the 4,000 MW power plant at Bedabahal, which will use domestic coal from three major coal blocks in region such as Meenakshi, Meenakshi-B and dip side of Meenakshi.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,185.80, down by 25.35 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 6,224.70 and 6,170.25. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 2.39%, Tata Motors up by 1.86%, Sun Pharma up by 1.70%, Ranbaxy up by 1.49% and Jindal Steel up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 2.38%, ICICI Bank down by 2.34%, Infosys down by 1.92%, SBI down by 1.78% and JP Associates down by 1.72% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in red barring Seoul Composite which was up by 0.37%; while Hang Seng down by 0.58%, Straits Times down by 0.29%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.54%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.40%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.80%, KLSE Composite down 0.12% and Nikkei 225 down by 2.35%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.01%, Germany’s DAX was up 0.19% and UK’s FTSE 100 added 0.22%.