Indian markets lose steam

Thu, 29 May Closing

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Weighed down by heavyweights, the Indian benchmark indices closed the day in red today. Ahead of the monetary policy scheduled next week on June 3, 2014 and the Union Budget, the markets have moved into a consolidating mode. Stocks from sectors such as IT, oil and gas and capital goods have been a drag. Both the BSE Mid Cap and the BSE Small Cap indices too lost their steam and were down by 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. The BSE-Sensex closed lower by 322 points. The NSE-Nifty too was seen down by 94 points.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices have closed the day on a mixed note. The European indices too have been witnessing mixed performance. The rupee was trading at Rs 59.01 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Barring Hindustan Zinc, all the other mining stocks have closed the day in red today. Notably, Guj. NRE Coke and MMTC Ltd have led the pack of losers.

According to a leading daily, the country's largest producer Coal India has reported an 18% fall in its net profit in 4QFY14 on account of higher tax expenses. The revenues have stood flat on YoY basis during the quarter. While the net profits were recorded at Rs 44.34 bn, the revenues stood at Rs 199.1 bn. As mentioned, the tax expenses burgeoned and were up by 35.8% YoY. The overhang of Government's Follow on Public Offer (FPO), the Presidential directive to sign FSAs with power producers and lower market linked prices have resulted in Coal India underperforming the indices over the last one year. The stock closed today in red and was down by 1.8%.

A leading financial daily has reported Narendra Modi's list of top 10 priorities for the economy. Efficient governance, delivery and implementation of schemes and programmes have been cited as key focus areas for the new government. The 10-point vision fairly covers areas of prime concern such as boosting investments, completing infrastructure projects in time-bound manner and exploiting the natural resources to country's benefit. The biggest highlight of the program has been the finance ministry's urge to allow atleast 49% foreign investment in all sectors. The issue over FDI in multi-brand retail is also expected to be settled by the new government. Simplification of key policies, addressing concerns relating to economy, bringing in transparency into governance and building confidence in bureaucracy are amongst the other areas that has been on the agenda of the new government in power.

What are your expectations from the new government? Do you have a wish-list in mind? If so, kindly share your views on the Equitymaster Club.