Benchmarks gyrate around the neutral line

Indian equity benchmarks continue to remain in a narrow range with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone in late morning deal. Market participate sentiments remained dampened as the rupee deprecated against the US dollar in early trade. Traders were worried after India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the third Quarter (October-December) of 2013-14 recorded sub 5% growth for the fifth consecutive quarter, as it came in a shade lower than expectation at 4.7% at Rs 14.8 lakh crore as against  Rs 14.1 lakh crore in the same quarter a  year ago. There was also some concern about a survey by industry body CII and ASCON findings that industrial activity in the October-December 2013 quarter remained subdued and grim, treading along the growth path of the previous quarter. Nevertheless, loss on down-side remained capped as the foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 591.82 crore on Friday as per the provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time led by the Japanese market that is lower by around two percent in early deals, as investors reacted to a Russian decision to send troops into Ukraine. Back home, traders were buying, Bankex, Realty and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was seen in Capital Goods, IT and Auto. The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 1160:734. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 21,100 and 6,250 levels respectively.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21109.13 down by 10.99 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 21120.25 and 20989.66. There were 1063 stocks advancing against 782 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.65% and Small cap index gained 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 0.66%, Realty up by 0.45%, Consumer Durables up by 0.34%, FMCG up by 0.29% and Metal up by 0.21% while Capital Goods down by 0.99%, IT down by 0.41%, Auto down by 0.36%, Teck down by 0.23% and Power down by 0.19% were the top losers on the sectoral index. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.30%, Hindalco up by 1.05%, SBI up by 1.00%, Tata Steel up by 0.92% and Tata Power up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Dr Reddys Lab was down by 1.50%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.32%, Tata Motors was down by 1.28%, L&T was down by 1.25% and SSLT was down by 1.18% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to boost shipments to markets like the US and the European Union (EU) nations, the government has extended export duty benefits to certain labour intensive sectors including textiles and leather. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has noted that export of products of high labour intensity and employment potential would be eligible to avail incentives at the rate of 2 percent of free-on-board value of exports.

Encouraged over the latest DGFT’s move, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Virender Uppal has asserted that DGFT’s decision would surely go a long way to offset infrastructure inefficiencies and other associated costs involved in manufacturing and marketing of these products. Further, he added that it is a well-timed move to boost exports at a time when textile industry is struggling with high input costs and slowdown in global markets. AEPC expects apparel exports to cross $15 billion this fiscal.

During April-January’FY14, value of exports increased by 5.71% to $257.09 billion as against $243.19 billion in the same period of previous fiscal year. The government has set $325 billion export target for the current fiscal year and the country needs about $68 billion in the remaining two months of the fiscal to meet the set target.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,268.20 down by 8.75 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 6,276.05 and 6,249.60. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 decliners on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 2.16%, Axis Bank up by 1.28%, Jindal Steel up by 1.11%, Indusind BK up by 1.07%, and SBI up by 0.98%. On the flip side, JP Associate down by 4.18%, HCL Tech down by 2.83%, L&T down by 1.78%, Bajaj-Auto down by 1.50% and Dr Reddy down by 1.31% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Jakarta Composite dropped by 46.73 points or 1.01% to 4,573.48, KLSE Composite declined 11.75 points or 0.64% to 1,823.91, Hang Seng tumbled 158.92 points or 0.70% to 22,678.04, Nikkei 225 slipped by 191.00 points or 1.29% to 14,651.13, Straits Times declined 25.61 points or 0.82% to 3,085.17, Taiwan Weighted crumbled 56.57 points or 0.65% to 8,583.01 and Seoul Composite was down by 16.71 points or 0.84% to 1,963.28. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 14.87 points or 0.72% to 2,071.17.