Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 8150 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late morning session, with the Sensex losing over 104 points and Nifty falling below the 8150 level, on profit-booking by cautious investors ahead of Supreme Court’s verdict in the coal allocations case due later in the day. Some investors were also cautious as the government will issue figures on growth in index of industrial production (IIP) and consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation for July and August, respectively, on September 12, 2014. Besides, weakness in rupee and mixed trade in other Asian market also dampened the trading sentiment. However, losses remain capped as Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its latest report has stated that Indian economic growth continue to gain momentum. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,162.98 crore on September 08, 2014.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Power, Auto and Consumer Durables, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Metal and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Shares of Ashok Leyland has surged as much as six percent after the company received orders for around 4,000 buses from State Transport Undertakings (STUs) under the JNNURM-II scheme. Besides, Jayshree Chemicals has surged over 4 percent after the company approved the sale of Chlor Alkali business to Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) for a cash consideration of Rs 212 crore.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors looking for fresh triggers amid slight uncertainty about the near-term outlook. Back home, the Indian rupee depreciated by 17 paise to 60.46 against the US dollar in early trade due to increased demand for the US currency from importers amid a weak opening in the domestic equity market. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2417 stocks traded, 1177 stocks advanced, while 1163 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27215.01 down by 104.84 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 27328.27 and 27214.06. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.11%, while Small cap index down by 0.23%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.29%, Auto up by 0.27%, Infrastructure up by 0.12%, Consumer Durables up by 0.10% and FMCG up by 0.08%, while Realty down by 1.29%, Metal down by 0.86%, IT down by 0.85%, Oil & Gas down by 0.55% and Bankex down by 0.49% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.65%, Cipla up by 0.95%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.46%, Tata Motors up by 0.45% and Coal India up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.52%, Hindalco down by 1.35%, ONGC down by 1.22%, Infosys down by 1.17% and ICICI Bank down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its latest report has stated that Indian economic growth continue to gain momentum. The Composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, for India inched up to 99 in July from 98.9 in June, indicating that Indian economy is likely to witness better expansion in the coming months. India’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in more than two years by 5.7% y-o-y during Q1FY15 as compared to 4.7% growth recorded in same quarter last year and 4.6% in Q4FY14.

On global front, the OECD stated that growth is stuck on a stable growth path in advanced economies, with the CLIs continue to signal a stable growth momentum in United States, Canada and Britain but Germany and Italy are showing signs of slowing down. The index value for Germany and Japan fell to 100 and 99.9 in July from 100.2 and 100.1 in the month of June. The CLIs in Euro Area declined to 100.8 in July from 100.9 in June.

For emerging ecomomies, CLIs point to stabilisation of growth momentum in China and Russia, while for Brazil index suggest tentative upward change in momentum.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8,139.10 down by 34.80 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 8,174.55 and 8,139.05. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.45%, Power Grid up by 1.24%, Cipla up by 1.03%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.91% and Cairn India up by 0.89%. On the flip side, DLF down by 1.92%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.74%, HCL Tech down by 1.50%, Infosys down by 1.42% and Hindalco down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.41%, Straits Times was up by 0.28% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.26%, Jakarta Stock Price Index was down by 0.67% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.02%.