Benchmarks continue lackluster trade in red

Indian equities trimmed gains to continue weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were on lackluster mood despite Central Statistics Office (CSO), pegged economic growth rate for 2013-14 at 4.9%, which is higher against 4.5% in 2012-13 and also tad higher than the general expectation of a growth of 4.7-4.8%. Traders were seen piling positions in Consumer Durables, Realty and Capital Goods stocks, while selling was witnessed in TECK, Metal and IT sector. In scrip specific development, Puravankara Projects was trading in red after reporting dismal December quarter results, dented by land and raw material cost. JK Lakshmi Cement was trading in green after clocking 13% higher Q3 volumes at 14.29-lakh tonnes.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,100 and 20,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1268:1111 while 137 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20369.73, down by 6.83 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 20,434.50 and 20,336.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, while Small cap index was up 0.37%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.76%, Realty up by 1.39%, Capital Goods up by 0.81%, HealthCare up by 0.78% and Oil and Gas up by 0.71%. While, TECK down by 0.65%, Metal down by 0.43%, IT down by 0.33%, FMCG down by 0.24% and Bankex down by 0.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.73%, Sun Pharma up by 1.66%, L&T up by 1.55%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.53% and Tata Motors up by 1.41%. On the flip side, HUL down by 2.43%, TCS down by 2.16%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.74%, HDFC down by 1.55% and Gail India down by 1.47%.

Meanwhile, finance ministry expects that India’s current account deficit (CAD) will fall by almost 50% to around $45 billion in the current financial year, mainly on the back of declining gold imports and the narrowing trade deficit. India’s CAD widened to a record high of $88.2 billion or 4.8% of GDP in 2012-13, however during the first half of current fiscal, CAD has narrowed to $26.9 billion or 3.1% of GDP from 4.5% of GDP in the first half of 2012-13.

The ministry further stated that the country is witnessing significant improvement on trade deficit front on account of better performance of exports and contracting imports. During April-December’2013, value of exports increased by 5.94% to $230.34 billion as against $217.42 billion in the same period of previous year. India’s imports also declined by 6.55% to $340.38 billon during April-December’2013 as against $364.24 billion recorded in the same period of previous year. Further, Finance Ministry added that FII inflows remained quite robust during this fiscal and expressed confidence for accretion to foreign exchange reserves. As on January 31, 2014 India’s foreign exchange reserve stood at $291 billion. Besides, Foreign Institutional Investors investing Rs 56,560 crore in equities so far in the current fiscal. 

Referring to fiscal deficit front, Finance Ministry has asserted that country’s fiscal deficit is likely to be contained at 4.7% of GDP in 2013-14 because of better- than-expected response to the ongoing auction of telecom spectrum and other supportive measures taken by the government. So far the government has garnered around Rs 56,190 crore from the ongoing auction of 2G radiowaves and the figure is likely to go up further. In the first nine months of this fiscal, Indian fiscal deficit reached Rs 5,16,390 crore or 95.2 per cent of the Rs 5,42,499 crore fiscal target.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,060.25, down by 2.95 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 6,083.05 and 6,051.30. There were only 25 stocks advancing against 25 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 3.19%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.85%, IDFC up by 1.82%, Sun Pharma up 1.72% and Tata Motors up by 1.55%. On the flip side, HUL down by 2.41%, JP Associates down by 2.36%, TCS down by 2.23%, HDFC down by 1.77% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.76% were the major losers on the index.

 The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Seoul Composite up by 0.04%, Nikkei 225 up by 1.77%, KLSE Composite up by 0.50%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.05% and Shanghai Composite up by 2.03%.While, Jakarta Composite up down 0.21%, Straits Times down by 0.15% and Hang Seng down by 0.27%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.14%, Germany’s DAX added 0.11% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.13%.