Benchmarks off day’s low; weakness prevails

Off the day’s low, benchmark equity indices are still showing sluggish trend in afternoon deals on account of investors’ cautious approach. Absence of positive triggers at home front and feeble cues mainly have snapped bourses’ four consecutive sessions gaining streak, which despite suffering a cut of close to half a percent, were trading above the crucial 20,600 (Sensex) and 6,100 (Nifty) levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices too succumbing to selling pressure were trading mixed at this point of time.

Mood right from the start of trade remained dejected on account of reduced global risk appetite after US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed that it remained on track to taper its stimulus despite a recent spate of downbeat economic data. Meanwhile, Asian pacific moved lower on Thursday, with Japan and Hong Kong leading the region down, as a key measure of Chinese manufacturing activity hit a seven-month low. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled after the initial February reading on HSBC’s preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers index was 48.3, compared with a final score of 49.5 in January. A score below 50 points to a contraction in factory activity, while a reading above 50 marks an expansion.

Closer home, while most of the sectoral indices were trading lower, stocks from Realty, Power, Consumer Durables and Healthcare counters were outperforming. On the flip side, Bankex Metal and PSU counters were the top laggards of the session. Metal stocks have melted in trade on account of weak Chinese data. The market breadth on BSE remains negative with advances to declines in the ratio of1023: 1271, while 146 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20620.96, down by 102.01 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 20662.66 and 20589.03. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.06% and Small cap index lost 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.64%, Power up by 0.55%, Consumer Durables up by 0.33%, and Healthcare up by 0.19%, while Bankex down by 1.53%, Metal down by 0.71%, PSU down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.38%, Information Technology down by 0.32% were the top losers on the sectoral index. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata power up by 1.61%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.49%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.94%, TCS up by 0.64% and BHEL up by 0.56%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down by 1.91%, Tata Steel down by 1.67%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.60%, SBI down by 1.44%  and  Axis Bank was down by 1.09% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in December 2013 remained unchanged at $1.10 billion, same as a year ago period and lower compared to $1.64 billion in the month of November. However, for the nine month period April-December, FDI equity inflows showed a modest decline of 2 percent to $16.56 billion from $16.94 billion during the corresponding period of the previous year.

As per the data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the first nine months of the fiscal, the highest FDI contributor was services with investment of $1.59 billion, followed by pharmaceuticals $1.26 billion, construction development $ 914 million and automobiles $871 million.

Region wise, Mauritius once again led the inflows with $3.67 billion of FDI during April-December, followed by Singapore $ 3.2 billion, UK $3.14 billion and the Netherlands $ 1.6 billion. On Domestic city wise, New Delhi, followed by Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad attracted maximum FDI during the nine months period ended April-December.

The nation requires about $1 trillion of FDI between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the 12th Five-Year Plan period, to fund infrastructure projects. Recently the government has proposed relaxation of norms for foreign investment in construction, a move that could open up funds flow into the financially stressed sector and can improve the FDI in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,115.90, down by 36.85 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 6,129.10 and 6,105.50. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 decliners on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 4.45%, Tata power up by 2.07%, Bajaj-Auto up by 1.77%, DLF up by 1.26% and Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 3.57%, Kotak Bank down by 2.07%, Indusind Bank down by 1.99%, PNB and ICICI Bank down by 1.75% and 1.93% respectively were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng tumbled 1.09%, Jakarta Composite decreased 0.29%, KLSE Composite declined 0.20%, Nikkei 225 crumbled 2.15%, Straits Times slipped by 0.11%, Seoul Composite dropped 0.64%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.61%. and Shanghai Composite too slide by 0.18%