Benchmarks trade flat in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a cautious start and are trading flat near the neutral lines in early deals on Monday. Sentiments remained dampened amid the weak monsoon reports turning further cautious on a private report saying that rural demand will continue to remain subdued for some time due to the deceleration in farm income. However, some support came in from report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 295.01 crore on April 25, 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Global cues too remained sluggish with the US markets declining in last session, snapping the week on a soft note though the consumer sentiments improved but traders remained concerned about the ongoing earnings season and tension in Ukraine. The Asian markets too were trading mostly negative at this point of time amid prospects Russia will be subject to new sanctions as tensions over Ukraine has intensified. Back home, on the sectoral front healthcare, metal and consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while banking, auto and FMCG remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 949 shares on the gaining side against 569 shares on the losing side while 58 shares remain unchanged. The market breadth on BSE remains positive with advances to declines in the ratio of 947:560. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading near their psychological 22,600 and 6,750 levels respectively. The BSE Sensex is currently at 22687.07 down by 1.00 points after trading in a range of 22721.36 and 22643.89. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.44% and Small cap index up by 0.43%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Health Care up by 0.94%, Metal up by 0.61%, Consumer Durables up by 0.51%, Oil & Gas up by 0.43% and Power up by 0.39%, while Auto down by 0.29% and Bankex down by 0.24% were the top losers on the sectoral index. The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 1.45%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.22%, Tata Power up by 1.21%, Cipla up by 1.01% and Hindalco Inds up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Gail India was down by 1.33%,  BHEL was down by 1.26%, Bharti Airtel was down by 1.14%, Tata Motors was down by 1.06% and  HDFC was down by 1.05% were the top losers on the Sensex. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) in India grew by 12.29 percent to $2.01 billion in the month of February, as compared to $1.79 billion in the same month of previous year. However, during April-February FY14, FDI dipped by modest 0.6 percent to $20.76 billion from $20.89 billion recorded in the corresponding period of FY13. The sectors that received highest inflows during the first eleven months of FY14 include services ($2.18 billion), automobiles ($1.28 billion), pharmaceuticals ($1.27 billion) and construction development ($1.05 million). Country wise, maximum FDI during the reported period was received form Mauritius with $4.48 billion followed by Singapore ($3.91 billion), UK ($3.21 billion) and Netherlands ($2.20 billion). FDI is considered crucial for economic development of a country and to attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government has relaxed FDI norms in around 12 sectors which include telecom, tea, pension and petroleum and natural gas among others. Now, it has started exercise for allowing FDI in railways and defence sectors. Despite the government various efforts to increase FDI, foreign investment during April-February FY14 has declined, which reflects the need to take more measures to improve the business environment in the country. Furthermore, India would require around $1 trillion in the 12th five year plan (2012-2017), to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.  The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,776.20 down by 6.55 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 6,782.75 and 6,763.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 24 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were Lupin up by 1.35%, SSLT up by 1.34%, Tata Power up by 1.20%, DR Reddy up by 1.07% and Wipro up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 1.65%, IDFC down by 1.62%, GAIL down by 1.49%, BHEL down by 1.49% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.46% were the top losers on the index. Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined or 1.23%, Hang Seng slipped by 0.39%, Jakarta Composite dropped 1.01%, Nikkei 225 shed 1.15%, Straits Times was down by 0.21% On the flip side, KOSPI rose 0.16%, KLSE Composite increased 0.05% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.46%.