Domestic bourses turn red after a positive start in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks, after a positive opening, entered into red terrain on morning deals on Tuesday as investors remained concerned on the SBI’s internal report, that the revised FY’2011-12 gross domestic product (GDP) growth is likely to fall to 6 percent on account of a slump in manufacturing led by weak demand and difficulty in accessing funds. The first revised estimate of GDP for FY’12 was 6.2 percent and the second revised estimate for FY'12 is scheduled to be released on January 31. Some pessimism also came in from currency front as Indian rupee was trading marginally lower at 62.37/38 versus its previous close of 62.31/32, tracking largely steady regional stock markets.

Global cues remained mixed with the US markets ending marginally lower in last session on getting disappointing reading on service sector activity and traders even overlooked the report that factory orders rose by more than expected in November. However, most of the Asian equity benchmarks were trading mostly higher at this point of time as investors remained optimistic about the outlook for the U.S. economy after the U.S. Senate confirmed Janet Yellen as the next head of the Federal Reserve.

Back home, shares of telecom companies like, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication edged lower with court ruling, allowing the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) to audit books of accounts of private telecom companies. On the sectoral front, capital goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by consumer durables and healthcare, while software, technology and fast moving consumer goods remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were struggling to get some traction and were trading mixed, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 680 shares on the gaining side against 536 shares on the losing side while 48 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20845.77; about 132 point higher compared to its previous closing of 20787.30, and has touched a high and a low of 20890.48 and 20684.18 respectively. The index is currently trading at 20713.74, down by 73.56 points or 0.35%. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 53.80% stocks advancing against 42.41% declines. The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap down by 0.01% and Small cap indices trading up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 0.35%, Consumer Durables up by 0.29% and Healthcare up by 0.20%, while IT down by 0.59%, FMCG down by 0.58%, Teck down by 0.57%, Oil & Gas down by 0.55% and PSU down by 0.52% were the top losers on the sectoral index. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.04%, Sun Pharma up by 0.78%, ICICI Bank up by 0.40%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.35% and L&T up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Axis Bank was down by 1.71%, Wipro was down by 1.13%, ONGC was down by 1.05%, SBI was down by 0.89% and HDFC Bank was down by 0.81% were the top losers on the Sensex.

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 opened at 6,203.90; about 12 points higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,191.45, and has touched a high and a low of 6,221.50 and 6,157.75 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,169.30, down by 22.15 points or 0.36%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 37 declines and two stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.31%, Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 0.89%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.68%, ICICI Bank up by 0.43% and Cairn up by 0.34%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.64%, BPCL down by 1.46%, Kotak Bank down by 1.23%, Wipro down by 1.12% and PNB down by 0.90% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 3.03 points or 0.15% to 2,048.74, Hang Seng gained 78.14 points or 0.34% to 22,762.29, KLSE Composite increased 2.67 points or 0.15% to 1,831.85, Straits Times added 7.80 points or 0.25% to 3,131.62, Seoul Composite surged 11.44 points or 0.59% to 1,964.72 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 47.15 points or 0.55% to 8,547.16.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined 11.53 points or 0.27% to 4,191.27 and Nikkei 225 was down by 26.30 points or 0.17% to 15,882.58.