Benchmarks remain sluggish in trade; Sensex down 46 points
Benchmark equity indices remained sluggish at this point of time as the recovery triggered in early noon trades got sold-off following flat-to-negative start for European shares. Lower US index futures also fuelled some worries among investor community. The BSE???s sensitive index — Sensex — had managed to get back to the psychological 18,000-mark in the afternoon session but selling pressure at higher levels dragged the benchmark below this crucial resistance level. Realty stocks were on the bears??? radar at this point of time. Besides this, technology, software and power shares also languished at the bottom. On the other hand, consumer durables, banking and fast moving consumer goods stocks were witnessing selective buying from marketmen. The broader indices continued to outperform the benchmark indices in trade. The market breadth on the BSE was positive; the gainers thrashed the losers in a ratio of 1553:1243 while 105 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex contracted 46.77 points or 0.26% to 17,945.23. The index touched a high and a low of 18,000.35 and 17,913.15, respectively.
The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices gained 0.68% and 0.77%, respectively.
Consumer Durables (CD) up 0.49%, Bankex up 0.21%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) up 0.20%, Metal up 0.03% and Healthcare (HC) up 0.03% were the main gainers in the BSE sectoral space.
On the other hand, Realty down 1.15%, TECk down 0.75%, Information Technology (IT) down 0.71%, Power down 0.32% and Auto down 0.23% were the main losers in the BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, in a bid to encourage trade and investment ties with UK, the government of India has invited British investments into India???s infrastructure sector, which is expected to grow at brisk pace in the next decade. India has also invited investments in the segments like food processing and clean technology.
India???s strong growth trajectory which has one of the largest markets in the world will require huge investments in infrastructure in order to sustain the high level of growth. Anand Sharma, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry highlighted on Thursday ??????we have huge demands of infrastructure and all projections indicate that we will be in a position to absorb $ 1.7 trillion in infrastructure over the next decade. British companies have established expertise in building world-class infrastructure and we will look forward to greater partnership, greater collaboration and assistance in this endeavour???.
M&M up 1.69%, SBI up 1.29%, Tata Steel up 1.07%, HDFC Bank up 0.87% and Hindalco Inds up 0.53% were the major gainers on the Sensex.
On the flip side, Hero Honda down 2.89%, Tata Motors down 2.13%, Bharti Airtel down 1.91%, DLF down 1.42% and ICICI Bank down 1.41% were the major losers on the index.
In a major setback to the state owned telecom companies, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) and the Communications Minister A Raja, the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday rejected a proposal for refund of the Rs 29,598 crore paid by the two companies for third generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum.
Pranab Mukherjee struck down the request put forth by Telecoms Minister A Raja citing legal complications that might arise if the fees were returned. Raja called on him at his office in the Parliament house for a brief meeting. Though, after the refusal Raja has been said to have proposed that the refund could be made in phases over the next few years. But when Mukherjee refused to budge, Raja cited the threat by staff unions of these companies to go on strike from next month if the demand for a refund was not met by the government. The unions of the state owned tecos have threatened to go on a three-day strike from September 21, followed by an indefinite strike, if the government doesn’t return the 3G and BWA money.
The S&P CNX Nifty shed 16.95 points or 0.31% to 5,391.95. The index touched a high and a low of 5,413.25 and 5,382.80, respectively.
HCL Tech up 3.57%, Ranbaxy up 2.42%, PNB up 1.80%, Kotak Bank up 1.73% and M&M up 1.65% were the top gainers on the Nifty.
On the other hand, Hero Honda down 3.32%, Siemens down 2.77%, GAIL down 2.32%, Bharti Airtel down 1.74% and Tata Motors down 1.72% were the top losers on the index.
Other Asian markets continued to trade in the red. Shanghai Composite dropped 0.40%, Hang Seng decreased 0.31%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.52%, Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.64%, Straits Times trimmed 0.33%, Seoul Composite slid 0.65% and Taiwan Weighted slipped 0.49% while KLSE Composite was unchanged.
European indices have got off to a flat-to-negative start. CAC-40 slid 0.57%, DAX declined 0.34% and FTSE 100 contracted 0.32%.
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