Indian equity benchmarks continued their southward journey for fourth straight day with both the frontline gauges ending the session below their crucial 20,800 (Sensex) and 6,200 (Nifty) levels amid weak global cues. It turned out to be a lethargic day of trade for Indian equity markets where bourses traded mostly in the red during the session in a tight band. Sentiments remained dampened after activity in India’s services sector shrank at a faster pace in December as new orders dwindled, surprisingly, despite this firms hired at their fastest pace in five months. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, fell to 46.7 in December from 47.2 in November.
Global cues too remained subdued with Asian markets ending mostly lower after growth in China’s services sector slowed sharply last month, and Japanese Nikkei had endured a rocky first day of 2014 trading as the jitters prompted its biggest drop in over two-months. Moreover, European markets, after a negative start, turned flat in early deals as investors digested a raft of services sector data that shed additional light on the divergence between top economies Germany and France as well as the gradual recovery in Italy and Spain.
Back home, some concern came in after a study report by industry body Assocham, said that uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to cast a shadow on the economy. Sentiments also remained somber after the rupee depreciated and was trading at 62.31 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing versus its close of 62.16 on Friday tracking the dollar’s broad gains versus major currencies. Meanwhile, shares of power producers like Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure slipped on reports that Maharashtra is planning to cut tariffs by around 15 per cent.
However, losses remained capped after gross direct tax collections rose 12.33% to Rs 4.81 lakh crore during the first nine months of this financial year. Direct tax collections totaled Rs 4.29 lakh crore during the April-December period in 2012-13. Some support also came in from rally in sugar stocks like Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Triveni Engineering etc. after the government has notified the modalities in order to avail the sector with interest-free loans to the tune of Rs 6,600 crore from banks for payments to cane growers. Shares of public sector Oil marketing companies (OMCs) too remained on buyers’ radar after hiking petrol and diesel prices by 75 paise and 50 paise a litre, respectively. Petrol price, which was last hiked by 41 paise excluding VAT on December 21 as government hiked the commission to be paid to petrol pump dealers, will now cost Rs 72.43 a litre in Delhi, up 91 paise from Rs 71.52 current.
The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by twenty points to below its psychological 6,200 level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive Index -- Sensex dropped by over sixty points to end below the psychological 20,800 mark.
Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with gain of around half a percent. Moreover, the market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,477 shares on the gaining side against 1,036 shares on the losing side, while 159 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 64.03 points or 0.31%, to settle at 20,787.30, while the CNX Nifty lost 19.70 points or 0.32% to settle at 6,191.45.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 20,913.79 and 20,721.98, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.35%, while the Small cap index gained 0.95%.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up 1.92%, Sun Pharma up 1.41%, Tata Motors up 1.14%, TCS up 0.79%, and HDFC up 0.63%, on the flip side Tata Power down 2.56%, ICICI Bank down 2.46%, SBI down 1.66%, Hero MotoCorp down 1.45%, and Infosys down by 1.44%,were the top losers on the index.
On the BSE Sectoral front Healthcare up by 0.48%, FMCG up by 0.44%, Auto up by 0.20%, Capital Goods up by 0.14%, and Consumer Durables up by 0.03%, were the top gainers, while Bankex down by 1.13%, Realty down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.49%, Power down by 0.41%, and Teck down by 0.34%, were the top losers on the sectoral front.
Meanwhile, in order to speed up the implementation of ultra-mega power projects, the Environment and Forests Ministry has issued a notification that power stations of such projects will no longer be linked to clearance of their captive coal blocks.
As per the earlier rule, mines and power stations were considered a single component for green clearances and until a coal block received stage-I forest clearance, the power plant could not apply for environmental approvals. Such delays in getting approval for a mine impacted the commissioning of the power plants further.
Power Ministry has been urging the Environment Ministry to change the procedure for forest clearance. Meanwhile, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has invited bids for the 4,000 MW project at Bedabahal in Odisha, which is likely to be awarded in February. Nine power developers including Jindal Steel, Power, Tata Power, NTPC and Adani Power are in the fray to bag the 4,000 MW power plant at Bedabahal, which will use domestic coal from three major coal blocks in region such as Meenakshi, Meenakshi-B and dip side of Meenakshi.
The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,224.70 and 6,170.25 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were ONGC up by 1.90%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.70%, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries up by 1.48%, Tata Motors up by 1.25%, and Lupin up by 0.76%, On the other hand, Tata Power Company down by 2.74%, ICICI Bank down by 2.23%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.13%, State Bank of India down by 2.01%, and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.57%, were the top losers.
Most of the European markets were trading in green, France's CAC 40 was up by 0.02% and Germany's DAX was up by 0.03%, while, United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was down by 0.17%.
The Asian markets barring Seoul Composite concluded Monday’s trade in red, with Japanese stocks falling sharply on their first day of trading in 2014. Chinese stocks were also weaker, as the impact of a reopened initial-public-offering market continued to weigh on local sentiment. A year-long moratorium on new listing was lifted earlier in the year, reviving fears that too many new stocks could hit the market. HSBC’s China services Purchasing Managers’ Index also weighed on sentiment. The gauge of expansion intentions in the services sector fell to 50.9 in December from 52.5 in November. This followed numbers released last week that showed a deceleration in both China manufacturing and services sectors.
Indonesia’s Finance Minister stated that economy contracted by 1.4 to 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, though full-year growth was 5.7 percent. The minister also added that current-account deficit, which has been a major worry for investors, will be 3.5-3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 and decline to 2.7-3.2 percent in 2014. Indonesia’s consumers grew more optimistic in December, indicating an improvement in wages and domestic consumption. The consumer confidence index rose to 116.5 in December, compared with 114.3 in November.
Global cues too remained subdued with Asian markets ending mostly lower after growth in China’s services sector slowed sharply last month, and Japanese Nikkei had endured a rocky first day of 2014 trading as the jitters prompted its biggest drop in over two-months. Moreover, European markets, after a negative start, turned flat in early deals as investors digested a raft of services sector data that shed additional light on the divergence between top economies Germany and France as well as the gradual recovery in Italy and Spain.
Back home, some concern came in after a study report by industry body Assocham, said that uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is likely to cast a shadow on the economy. Sentiments also remained somber after the rupee depreciated and was trading at 62.31 per dollar at the time of equity markets closing versus its close of 62.16 on Friday tracking the dollar’s broad gains versus major currencies. Meanwhile, shares of power producers like Tata Power and Reliance Infrastructure slipped on reports that Maharashtra is planning to cut tariffs by around 15 per cent.
However, losses remained capped after gross direct tax collections rose 12.33% to Rs 4.81 lakh crore during the first nine months of this financial year. Direct tax collections totaled Rs 4.29 lakh crore during the April-December period in 2012-13. Some support also came in from rally in sugar stocks like Shree Renuka Sugars, Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, Triveni Engineering etc. after the government has notified the modalities in order to avail the sector with interest-free loans to the tune of Rs 6,600 crore from banks for payments to cane growers. Shares of public sector Oil marketing companies (OMCs) too remained on buyers’ radar after hiking petrol and diesel prices by 75 paise and 50 paise a litre, respectively. Petrol price, which was last hiked by 41 paise excluding VAT on December 21 as government hiked the commission to be paid to petrol pump dealers, will now cost Rs 72.43 a litre in Delhi, up 91 paise from Rs 71.52 current.
The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by twenty points to below its psychological 6,200 level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive Index -- Sensex dropped by over sixty points to end below the psychological 20,800 mark.
Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with gain of around half a percent. Moreover, the market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,477 shares on the gaining side against 1,036 shares on the losing side, while 159 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 64.03 points or 0.31%, to settle at 20,787.30, while the CNX Nifty lost 19.70 points or 0.32% to settle at 6,191.45.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 20,913.79 and 20,721.98, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.35%, while the Small cap index gained 0.95%.
The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up 1.92%, Sun Pharma up 1.41%, Tata Motors up 1.14%, TCS up 0.79%, and HDFC up 0.63%, on the flip side Tata Power down 2.56%, ICICI Bank down 2.46%, SBI down 1.66%, Hero MotoCorp down 1.45%, and Infosys down by 1.44%,were the top losers on the index.
On the BSE Sectoral front Healthcare up by 0.48%, FMCG up by 0.44%, Auto up by 0.20%, Capital Goods up by 0.14%, and Consumer Durables up by 0.03%, were the top gainers, while Bankex down by 1.13%, Realty down by 0.71%, IT down by 0.49%, Power down by 0.41%, and Teck down by 0.34%, were the top losers on the sectoral front.
Meanwhile, in order to speed up the implementation of ultra-mega power projects, the Environment and Forests Ministry has issued a notification that power stations of such projects will no longer be linked to clearance of their captive coal blocks.
As per the earlier rule, mines and power stations were considered a single component for green clearances and until a coal block received stage-I forest clearance, the power plant could not apply for environmental approvals. Such delays in getting approval for a mine impacted the commissioning of the power plants further.
Power Ministry has been urging the Environment Ministry to change the procedure for forest clearance. Meanwhile, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has invited bids for the 4,000 MW project at Bedabahal in Odisha, which is likely to be awarded in February. Nine power developers including Jindal Steel, Power, Tata Power, NTPC and Adani Power are in the fray to bag the 4,000 MW power plant at Bedabahal, which will use domestic coal from three major coal blocks in region such as Meenakshi, Meenakshi-B and dip side of Meenakshi.
The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,224.70 and 6,170.25 respectively.
The top gainers on the Nifty were ONGC up by 1.90%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.70%, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries up by 1.48%, Tata Motors up by 1.25%, and Lupin up by 0.76%, On the other hand, Tata Power Company down by 2.74%, ICICI Bank down by 2.23%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.13%, State Bank of India down by 2.01%, and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.57%, were the top losers.
Most of the European markets were trading in green, France's CAC 40 was up by 0.02% and Germany's DAX was up by 0.03%, while, United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was down by 0.17%.
The Asian markets barring Seoul Composite concluded Monday’s trade in red, with Japanese stocks falling sharply on their first day of trading in 2014. Chinese stocks were also weaker, as the impact of a reopened initial-public-offering market continued to weigh on local sentiment. A year-long moratorium on new listing was lifted earlier in the year, reviving fears that too many new stocks could hit the market. HSBC’s China services Purchasing Managers’ Index also weighed on sentiment. The gauge of expansion intentions in the services sector fell to 50.9 in December from 52.5 in November. This followed numbers released last week that showed a deceleration in both China manufacturing and services sectors.
Indonesia’s Finance Minister stated that economy contracted by 1.4 to 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, though full-year growth was 5.7 percent. The minister also added that current-account deficit, which has been a major worry for investors, will be 3.5-3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 and decline to 2.7-3.2 percent in 2014. Indonesia’s consumers grew more optimistic in December, indicating an improvement in wages and domestic consumption. The consumer confidence index rose to 116.5 in December, compared with 114.3 in November.
Asian Indices
|
Last Trade
|
Change in Points
|
Change in %
|
Shanghai Composite
|
2045.71
|
-37.43
|
-1.80
|
Hang Seng
|
22684.15
|
-133.13
|
-0.58
|
Jakarta Composite
|
4202.81
|
-54.85
|
-1.29
|
KLSE Composite
|
1829.18
|
-5.56
|
-0.30
|
Nikkei 225
|
15908.88
|
-382.43
|
-2.35
|
Straits Times
|
3123.82
|
-7.65
|
-0.24
|
KOSPI Composite
|
1953.28
|
7.14
|
0.37
|
Taiwan Weighted
|
8500.01
|
-46.53
|
-0.54
|
