Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 6800 mark

Indian equity benchmarks added losses to continue their weak trade hovering near the lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from global counterparts. Investors have started taking cautious approach ahead of the outcome of the currently underway national elections due on May 16, along with concerns over Ukraine which too continued to weigh on sentiment. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Consumer Durables and HealthCare stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Oil & Gas and Bankex sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Maruti Suzuki India was trading in red after it reported March quarter earnings which were below street estimates with net profit at Rs 800 crore. Biocon was trading firm after the company stated that it expects FY2015 to reflect continued business momentum with biosimilars, branded formulations and research services driving growth.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,800 and 22,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1083:1518 while 127 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22690.97, down by 185.57 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 22939.31 and 22679.06. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.39%, while Small cap index was down by 0.73%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.29%, Consumer Durables up by 0.64% and HealthCare up by 0.22% while, FMCG down by 1.77%, Oil & Gas down by 1.71%, Bankex down by 0.99%, Power down by 0.95% and Capital Goods down by 0.85% were the top losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 2.73%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.98%, HDFC up by 1.44%, BHEL up by 1.03% and SBI up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.80%, ICICI Bank down by 2.66%, NTPC down by 2.62%, ITC down by 2.50% and Hindustan Unilever down by 2.33% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the government has set a target of electricity generation of 1,023 billion units during the current financial year, which is about 5 percent higher than previous fiscal year target. Further, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) planned to achieve electricity generation of 252 billion units in the April-June period, while the target for each of the subsequent quarters is 257 billion units.

As per the CEA, over 368 billion units may be generated from state utilities and over 393 billion units from central utilities, while the rest will generate from private entities.  Furthermore, it estimates that around 859 billion units of electricity will be generated by thermal power projects during 2014-15 out of which 784 billion units are expected to come from coal-based stations and the remaining 75 billion units from fuels such as diesel, lignite, naphtha and natural gas. However, target for hydel generation has been lowered to 124 billion units in current fiscal from 135 billion units in 2013-14. India produced 967 billion units of power during FY14, lower than the target of 975 billion units.

Electricity in India is produced with the use of coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Acute coal shortages in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country as coal-fired plants account for 68% of India's installed electricity capacity. India’s gas based installed capacity stands at nearly 8 percent at 20,000 MW of which around 6,000 MW is currently stranded because of unavailability of natural gas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,780.45, down by 60.35 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 6,869.85 and 6,776.55. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 2.78%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.07%, DLF up by 1.64%, HDFC up by 1.33% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Cairn down by 4.94%, Ambuja Cement down by 4.94%, Ultratech Cement down by 3.70%, ACC down by 3.52% and Maruti Suzuki down by 2.91% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng plunged 1.50%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.00%, Straits Times dropped 0.43%, Taiwan Weighted plummeted 1.92% while, Nikkei 225 added 0.17% and Jakarta Composite advanced 0.34%.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.34%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.72% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.18%.