Benchmarks continue to trade flat in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in a very narrow range in afternoon session as buying witnessed in realty and consumer durables stocks was offset by the losses in FMCG, Tech and power stocks. Sentiments got some support after PMEAC chairman C Rangarajan stated that the decline in Indian economic growth has bottomed out and there is probability that gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure for 2013-14 will be revised upwards. However, investors turned cautious as HSBC emerging markets index fell to four-month low at 51.4 in January from 51.6 in December mainly due to sluggish services sector growth in the emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). On sector specific movement, realty index was top gainer on BSE up by around 2.26% on the back of strong gains in realty major DLF, which was up 5%. DLF has announced the sale of its luxury hospitality chain Aman resorts to its original founder Adrian Zecha for $358 million. On the other hand, FMCG shares witnessed profit taking ahead of consumer price inflation data as higher inflation reduces the purchasing power of consumers. Furthermore, telecom shares remained under pressure amid concerns of rising acquisition costs of spectrum.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in green with Seoul Composite up by 0.10% and Nikkei 225 up by 1.57% amid firm global cues. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,100 and 20,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,142 stocks traded, 1,175 stocks advanced, while 843 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,366.87 down by 9.69 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 20,434.50 and 20,366.15. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.35%, while Small cap index up by 0.59%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.26%, Consumer Durables up by 1.59%, Healthcare up by 0.85%, Oil and Gas up by 0.65%, Auto up by 0.36% and Metal up by 0.26%. While, FMCG down by 0.47%, Teck down by 0.33%, Power down by 0.14%, IT down by 0.12% and Bankex down by 0.04% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.61%, Tata Motors up by 1.48%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.36%, RIL up by 1.11% and Cipla up by 1.08%. On the flip side, HUL down by 1.76%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.68%, TCS down by 1.51%, Gail India down by 1.47% and HDFC down by 0.94%.

Meanwhile, as per the HSBC business survey on emerging countries, services and manufacturing sectors across emerging economies expanded at slowest pace in January mainly due to sluggish services sector growth in the emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). The composite HSBC emerging markets index, based on the survey of around 8,000 firms in 17 countries, fell to four-month low at 51.4 in January from 51.6 in December. However, the index remained above the 50 mark, which separates growth from contraction.

The HSBS survey indicated that though services activity in the BRIC countries was at a six-month low, manufacturing activities also remained sluggish in these countries except India. Deteriorating external balances forced some countries like Turkey, Brazil, India and South Africa to prevent monetary easing, which impacted their business activities in the reported month. Meanwhile, the improvements in the developed markets including Mexico, Poland and Czech Republic have significantly added to the index of emerging economies.

Referring to inflation in emerging countries, the HSBC survey highlighted that inflationary pressures remained firm in the reported month, as weak currencies were raising costs for some manufacturers. The future output index, measuring firms' expectations for the next 12 months, picked up in January after falling in December to a six-month low. Further, manufacturing level touched a ten-month high while the service sector level fell to a record low in January.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,065.30 up by 2.10 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 6,083.05 and 6,051.30. There were only 32 stocks advancing against 18 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 4.53%, IDFC up by 2.03%, Tata Motors up by 1.61%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.60% and Sun Pharma up by 1.60%. On the flip side, HUL down by 1.78%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.77%, Gail down by 1.74%, TCS down by 1.53% and Kotal Bank down by 1.17% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.10%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.57%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.30%, KLSE Composite up by 0.49%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.05% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.86%.While, Straits Times down by 0.08% and Hang Seng down by 0.03%.