Markets trade lower on feeble global cues

Pressurised by feeble global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a soft start and are trading with a cut of over a quarter of a percent. Investors remained on the sidelines ahead of Wholesale Price Index-based (WPI-based) inflation numbers for February, to be released later in the day. After the slide in CPI numbers it will provide a crucial input to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for its monetary policy review due on 1 April.

Meanwhile, global concerns resurfaced as latest reports indicate that Russia’s Defense Ministry announced new military operations in several regions near the Ukrainian border on Thursday. The US markets ending lower with major indices losing over a percent on lingering overseas concerns, which overshadowed some upbeat US economic data. The Asian markets too were trading in the red at this point of time as Chinese economic data missed estimates while Ukraine crisis overshadowed signs of improvement in the US economy.

Back home, on the sectoral front, software, auto and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while realty, capital goods and banking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were struggling to get any traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 607 shares on the gaining side against 942 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21648.05; about 126 points lower compared to its previous closing of 21774.61, and touched a high and a low of 21714.44 and 21614.00 respectively. The index is currently trading at 21700.30, down by 74.31 points or 0.34%. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a weak start with 37.45% stocks advancing against 58.11% declines. The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index down was by 0.36% and Small cap lost 0.31%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.13%, IT up by 0.13%, Teck up by 0.08% and Healthcare up by 0.01%, while Realty down by 1.84%, Capital Goods down by 1.20%, Bankex down by 1.13%, Consumer Durables down by 0.42% and FMCG down by 0.26% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 1.50%, Tata Power up by 1.38%, Infosys up by 0.97%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.80% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Axis Bank was down by 1.93%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.70%, L&T was down by 1.49%, Bhel was down by 1.42% and Sun Pharma was down by 1.41% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Amid concerns over the increasing imports of electronics products, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) President R Chandrashekhar has asserted that Indian imports of electronics by 2020 will increase two fold over the present figure of oil imports. Observing that policy decisions to boost industry growth does not come in the manner as it should be, NASSCOM President emphasized that Industry in the country is still not focused on policy making and is currently playing the role of only a regulating body. In the manufacturing sector, there are two industry bodies, one representing the domestic industry players and other global players.

R Chandrashekhar added that consultation in policy making is essential and expressed the need for the presence of different bodies like NASSCOM. Now, it has become imperative that country’s premium institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) should come forward and make changes with policy makers and industry bodies. The Centre for Technology and Policy set up by IIT can play an important role in promotion and assessment of public policies introduced by technological and scientific innovations, and identification of key technology gaps in meeting developmental goals in key areas.

Rising India’s imports of electronics projects reflects the need to enhance investment to boost domestic manufacturing of electronics products. However, the government has also taken several measures like preferential market access policy in order to boost local production. The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) has recently floated a plan to set up a billion-dollar venture capital fund to increase domestic production of electronic products especially telecom equipment and devices.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,447.25; about 45 points lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,493.10, and has touched a high and a low of 6,472.95 and 6,442.60 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,463.45, down by 29.65 points or 0.46%. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.56%, Gail up by 1.50%, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.16%, Infosys up by 0.89% and Power Grid up by 0.86%. On the flip side, IDFC down by 3.06%, HCL Tech down by 2.56%, DLF down by 2.11%, JP Associate down by 1.93% and Axis Bank down by 1.92% were the top losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 10.75 points or 0.53% to 2,008.36, Hang Seng tumbled by 250.38 points or 1.15% to 21,505.70, Jakarta Composite dipped 40.90 points or 0.87% to 4,685.27, KLSE Composite contracted by 7.67 points or 0.42% to 1,811.19, Nikkei 225 shed by 403.05 points or 2.72% to 14,412.93, Straits Times decreased by 13.26 points or 0.43% to 3,068.13, KOSPI Composite slipped 10.96 points or 0.57% to 1,923.42 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 53.22 points or 0.61% to 8,694.57.