Markets get a slow start despite good global cues

Indian markets are not looking much enthusiast about the good going in the global markets and after a positive start are finding hard to hold their feet in green, trading flat. After a sharp plunge in last session, some recovery was expected, as the US markets ended higher, while most of the Asian markets made a green start. But the domestic traders seem to be going slow ahead of the Vote on Accounts scheduled to be presented on Monday. There was some concern with a United Nations report that government may not achieve its fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent for the year. The telecom stocks are buzzing since morning gaining 2-3% as 2G telecom spectrum auction after 10 days and 68 rounds of fierce bidding ended raising Rs 61,162 crore for the government and the incumbent operators managed to protect their turf, albeit at a huge cost. The IT and tech stocks too were showing some strength despite the rupee moving higher against the dollar, as the weak US retail sales data has raised some investors' expectations for a slower reduction in the stimulus.

The broader indices too were trading in-line with benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 768 shares on the gaining side against 723 shares on the losing side while 76 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 20265.13; about 71 points higher compared to its previous closing of 20193.35, and touched a high and a low of 20313.02 and 20166.08 respectively. The index is currently trading at 20223.95, up by 30.60 points or 0.15%. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 49.01% stocks advancing against 46.14% declines. The broader indices too were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.10% and Small cap gained 0.10%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Teck up by 0.77%, Auto up by 0.60%, IT up by 0.59%, Oil & Gas up by 0.48% and Healthcare up by 0.41%, while Capital Goods down by 0.50%, Metal down by 0.41%, Power down by 0.25%, PSU down by 0.13% and Bankex down by 0.13% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.74%, Tata Motors up by 2.06%, Sun Pharma up by 1.27%, RIL up by 0.93% and TCS up by 0.83%. On the flip side, BHEL was down by 2.77%, Hindalco was down by 1.55%, SSLT was down by 1.30%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.21% and  HDFC was down by 0.97% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon be coming out with a set of norms for a dedicated exchange for trade receivables that can help smaller businesses tide over liquidity issues.The Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that the central bank was discussing with market participants how to do this, and in a very short while, we should have the structure in place through which trade receivables of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) can be sold in the market.

Elaborating the move, Rajan said the big businesses squeeze the smaller ones when it comes to payments, creating difficulties for the latter and if the small business owner is able to raise money against the receivable, it will be much better for the business. It can also help bring down the cost of such transactions through automation. Once the cost is reduced and volume of business rises, financial inclusion can be achieved.

RBI governor is of view that if trade receivables exchange is set up with fully automated acceptance of bills and auction of bills, then we can reduce the transaction cost considerably. The Receivables Exchange is an auction based marketplace connecting large sellers of trade receivables to a broad network of institutional buyers.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,023.75; about 22 point higher as compared to its previous closing of 6,001.10, and has touched a high and a low of 6,033.30 and 5,990.80 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,006.85, up by 5.75 points or 0.10%. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.76%, Tata Motors up by 2.15%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.27%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.15% and Sun Pharma up by 1.08%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.67%, Hindalco down by 1.60%, SSLT down by 1.48%, Ambuja Cements down by 1.33% and HDFC down by 1.12% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite added 10.51 points or 0.50% to 2,108.91, Hang Seng increased 88.24 points or 0.40% to 22,253.77, Jakarta Composite surged 11.49 points or 0.26% to 4,503.15, KLSE Composite gained 1.83 points or 0.10% to 1,818.98, Seoul Composite rose 15.23 points or 0.79% to 1,942.19 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 76.56 points or 0.90% to 8,544.26.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slumped by 254.83 points or 1.75% to 14,279.91 and Straits Times was down by 3.89 points or 0.13% to 3,036.01.