Benchmarks open lower tracking subdued global cues

The Indian equity markets have made a lackluster opening pressurized by subdued global cues. The US markets once gain made a mixed closing overnight despite better-than-expected jobless claims and trade data. Moreover, all the Asian peers were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time. China will be more cautious about adjusting monetary policy as inflation may pick up again. Japanese market too was down by over half a percent on some weak earnings number. Back home, Auto remained the top laggard on the BSE sectoral space after the car sales in India slumped to its lowest in nine months in July at 1.43 lakh units while, capital goods, power and realty remained the other losers on the sectoral front. However, technology, fast moving consumer goods and healthcare remained the top gainers. Meanwhile, with concerns of slippage, the government will reassess the fiscal deficit target after the mid-year review taking into account government expenditure and resources. Earlier, the Finance Minister said that the government would soon come out with a fiscal plan, setting up a committee headed under Vijay Kelkar to suggest a plan. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. The market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 665 shares on the gaining side against 673 shares on the losing side while 67 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,515.42; about 45 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,560.87, and has touched a high and a low of 17,563.46 and 17,509.19 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,526.73, down by 34.14 points or 0.19%. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has been evenly divided with 47.33% stocks advancing against 47.90% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices rose 0.04% and 0.17% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECk up by 0.46%, FMCG up by 0.17%, HC up by 0.17%, IT up by 0.10% and Metal up by 0.01%. While, Auto down by 0.83%, CG down by 0.69%, Power down by 0.44%, Realty down by 0.41% and PSU down by 0.32% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.30%, Sterlite Industries up by 0.92%, TCS up by 0.84%, ONGC up by 0.59% and Sun Pharma up by 0.52%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors was down by 2.01%, Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.54%, HDFC was down by 1.38%, Coal India was down by 0.95% and L&T was down by 0.87% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, despite global slowdown and recession fears, India’s exports to Europe have increased by nearly 16% to $57.7 billion during the previous financial year (2011-12), albeit the increase in imports is by 29% year-on-year to $91.5 billion, as per the commerce ministry. While, in 2010-11 Indian exports to European countries was at $49.86 billion and imports at $71 billion. India's export growth has slashed by 5.45% in June for the second month in a row to $25 billion.

Exports to US and European countries account for about 30% of the country's total exports earnings. With surging inflation and tight monetary policy measures adopted by the RBI, exports have pared some gains, which have caused decreased flow of investment and sluggish growth in several sectors including industries. Further, the increase in crude oil prices ahs also affected the industrial growth.

Moreover, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia confirmed that Amendment in Trademarks Act 2010 will soon be in force, enabling the Indian companies to register their trademarks in the member-countries of the Protocol through a single application as well as allow foreign companies to register their trademarks in India, within a specific time frame - 18 months.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,308.20; about 14 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,322.95, and has touched a high and a low of 5,323.40 and 5,304.80 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,311.90, down by 11.05 points or 0.21%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.36%, TCS up by 1.03%, Sterlite Industries up by 0.92%, Cairn up by 0.91% and ONGC up by 0.63%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 2.33%, Tata Motors down by 1.96%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.34%, HDFC down by 1.30% and Coal India down by 1.06%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down by 2.75 points or 0.13% to 2,171.35, Hang Seng lost 71.81 points or 0.35% to 20,197.66, Jakarta Composite declined marginally by 0.77 points or 0.03% to 4,130.81, KLSE Composite was down by 1.38 points or 0.08% to 1,641.14, Nikkei was down by 54.49 points or 0.61% to 8,924.11, Straits Times lost 0.90 points or 0.01% to 1,940.77, Kospi Composite was up by 0.15 points or 0.01% to 1,940.70 and Taiwan Weighted was lower by 7.20 points or 0.10% to 7,428.65.