Benchmarks make negative start tracking weak Asian cues

The Indian equity markets have made a negative start as investors booked their profits made in previous session amid weak cues from Asian counterparts. Most of the Asian counterparts were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time. However, US markets came out of the consolidation mood on Tuesday and made good closing with all the major indices gaining over a percent each. Back home, selling witnessed in most of the key heavyweights dragged the NSE's Nifty below their crucial 5,500 mark. Moreover, Reliance Industries continued to trade lower and was trading with a cut of about half a percent in the trade too dampened the sentiments. On the sectoral front, fast moving consumer goods witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by healthcare and metal while, software, technology and banking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices witnessed some traction and were outperforming benchmarks. Meanwhile, the PSU oil marketing companies viz., BPCL, HPCL and IOC all were edged higher in the trade on comments by the oil minister S Jaipal Reddy that a panel of ministers will meet shortly to discuss a possible hike in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices. The market breadth has made a positive start; there were 897 shares on the gaining side against 694 shares on the losing side while 63 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18,298.59; about 10 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18,308.66, and has touched a high and a low of 18,308.69 and 18,234.68 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18,257.16, down by 51.50 points or 0.28%. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a positive start with 54.23% stocks advancing against 41.96% declines. The broader indices were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were up by 0.13% and 0.07% respectively. 

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 0.24%, HC up by 0.15% and Metal was up by 0.08%. While, IT down by 0.57%, TECk down by 0.54%, Bankex down by 0.54%, CG down by 0.50% and CD down by 0.49% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 0.74%, Tata Steel up by 0.63%, Reliance Infra up by 0.57%, Hindalco up by 0.51% and RCom was up by 0.31%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.97%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.83%, SBI down by 0.83%, Jaiprakash Associates down by 0.77% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.67% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, India, which is pressing hard for implementation of SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) in order to achieve full potential of the agreement and to enhance intra SAARC trade flows, has urged the SAARC countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghahistan, Nepal and Bhutan to bring down all protectionist trade barriers to achieve regional economies of scale at a much greater pace. Trade ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are in Maldives for the fifth ministerial meeting for better implementation of the SAFTA agreement.

Anand Sharma, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, underscored that serious attempts are being made to reduce the sensitive list under the trade liberalization program of SAFTA. He also affirmed that the focus should be to bring down the tariff levels for those items which still remain within the sensitive list. He advocated the nations to rapidly break down barriers in key sectors like textiles, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, electronic goods, automobiles and agriculture.

The Commerce Minister also opined that India would provide $100 million as loan for each of its neighbouring countries to undertake developmental work in basic infrastructure projects and help them develop infrastructure like roads and power. India would extend such development loan through its EXIM bank, interest rates close to LIBOR (London Inter Bank Offer Rate).

Highlighting the multiplying energy needs of the SAARC countries, Sharma advocated for meeting the need to build greater energy security through trans-national electricity grids.  The SAARC region needs to concentrate on all possibilities of cross-border electricity trade which would help in better energy load management as well as energy security in South Asia.

Earlier, during the meeting with Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed at Male, Anand Sharma held wide range of discussions on economic cooperation between the both nations. Sharma outlined the new long-term concessional credit scheme for project exports launched by the Government of India and assured to encourage major Indian companies to participate in infrastructure building in Maldives.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,494.45; about 6 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,500.50, and has touched a high and a low of 5,499 and 5,477.10 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,484.00, down by 16.50 points or 0.30%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 0.86%, Sun Pharma up by 0.81%, HDFC up by 0.77%, Sesa Goa up by 0.64% and Tata Steel up by 0.62%.

JP Associates down by 1.07%, Kotak Bank down by 1.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.99%, Infosys by 0.94% and Axis Bank was down by 0.94%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian counterparts were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 13.24 points or 0.49% to 2,716.80, Hang Seng was down 87.67 points or 0.39% to 22,408.33, Straits Times was down 0.13 points, Seoul Composite was down 2.36 points or 0.11% to 2,074.47 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 85.32 points or 0.97% to 8,743.89.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up 28.53 points or 0.76% to 3,801.81, KLSE Composite was up 4.87 points or 0.31% to 1,553.38 and Nikkei 225 was up by 5.93 points or 0.06% to 9,553.72.

Unit-8, 3rd Floor, First Mall, The Mall, Ludhiana-141001, Punjab (INDIA).

To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?TJzsLEwstCyc7OysHMyctEa0jAyMrGysLBw=