The Indian equity markets have reversed its initial gains as investors remained cautious ahead of the results of assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal. The global cues too remained mixed after the US markets made some recovery overnight supported by some positive economic reports while, the Asian counterparts were trading on a mixed note at this point of time. Back home, sustained selling witnessed in key heavyweights, pulled the market into the negative terrain after a positive start. On the sectoral front realty witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by fast moving consumer goods and public sector undertaking while, healthcare, auto and banking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks. Moreover, PSU oil marketing companies viz., BPCL, HPCL, IOC edged higher in the trade on announcement that the government is going to give an additional Rs 20,000 crore to these companies; these companies are estimated to lose over Rs 180,000 crore on fuel sales this fiscal. The market breadth was equally divided with 780 shares on the gaining side against 766 shares on the losing side while 59 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex opened at 18,362.45; about 27 points higher compared to its previous closing of 18,335.79, and has touched a high and a low of 18,384.49 and 18,280.70 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 18,323.68, down by 12.11 points or 0.07%. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth was equally divided with 48.60% stocks advancing against 47.73% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices up by 0.13% and 0.08% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Realty up by 0.38%, FMCG up by 0.30%, PSU up by 0.29%, Metal up by 0.19% and Oil and Gas was up by 0.13%. While HC down by 0.31%, Auto down by 0.15%, Bankex down by 0.11%, CG down by 0.09% and Power down by 0.08% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.62%, Hindalco up by 1.33%, DLF up by 1.25%, Hero Honda up by 1.06% and TCS was up by 0.67%.
On the flip side, M&M down by 1.60%, Cipla down by 1.02%, Reliance Infra down by 1.00%, Tata Power down by 0.81% and HUL down by 0.75% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, in order to facilitate smooth trade with Iran, after RBI scrapped a long-standing payment mechanism four months ago stating that all eligible current account transactions including trade transactions should be settled in any permitted currency outside the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) mechanism, India has decided to use multiple currencies, including the rupee, to pay for crude oil imported from Iran. Along with rupee, it will also use euro to pay for part of the 12 million barrels of oil imported from Iran every month. Also, some payments would be routed through countries like Turkey.
As per the proposed solution, though the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) will be able to open a rupee account with Indian banks and use the money to purchase non-strategic items like railway imports and buying commodities. It will not be allowed to invest in India or buy shares or companies, but the same can be used for buying government securities.
Though India in the month of February began clearing past dues for Iranian oil imports by making euro payments through German-based Europisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIH Bank) and about 1.5 billion euro had been paid through the bank; Washington persuaded Germany to stop payments as EIH is owned by Iran, which is a banned entity in the US.
Meanwhile, India's move to stop usage of ACU payment mechanism was seen as an example of India succumbing to American pressure, as Iran is facing economic sanctions from the United Nations, the US and the European Union (EU) over its controversial nuclear programme. The move was also being attributed to growing the Indo-US ties as RBI's directive came less than two months after the US President Barack Obama's visit to India. However, India's foreign ministry denied "acting under pressure of any country".
The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,492.35; about 7 points higher compared to its previous closing of 5,486.15, and has touched a high and a low of 5,503.35 and 5,472.15 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 5,480.55, down by 5.60 points or 0.10%. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were ONGC up by 1.66%, Siemens up by 1.41%, Hindalco up by 1.18%, DLF up by 1.14% and Hero Honda up by 1.13%.
M&M down by 1.78%, BPCL down by 1.67%, Ranbaxy down by 1.14%, Reliance Infra down by 1.07% and HCL Tech was down by 0.97%, were the major losers on the index.
Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, Straits Times was up 7.45 points or 0.24% to 3,137.90, KLSE Composite was up 5.51 points or 0.36% to 1,537.80, Jakarta Composite was up 11.83 points or 0.31% to 3,820.54 and Shanghai Composite was up 1.62 points or 0.06% to 2,845.71.
On the flip side, Hang Seng was down 100.97 points or 0.44% to 22,972.79, Nikkei 225 was down 115.29 points or 1.19% to 9,601.36, Seoul Composite was down 17.67 points or 0.83% to 2,104.98 and Taiwan Weighted was down 20.28 points or 0.22% to 9,013.40
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