Benchmarks continue to trade down in dumps; Nifty oscillates sub 8,100 mark

With no positive triggers at domestic front and somber global cues, local equity markets continued to trade down in dumps, with loss of around half a percent that has pulled both Sensex and Nifty below the psychologically crucial 27,150 and 8,150 levels respectively. Meanwhile, broader indices, acting contrary to the trend, were trading higher with gains in the range of 0.45%-0.85%.  Prevailing caution ahead of the release of macro-economic data, July factory output and August CPI numbers, also is weighing of the sentiment of local equity markets. On the macro-front, street widely expects Industrial production to grow 1.8% from a year earlier in July, slower than June's 3.4% increase, while India's consumer price inflation, closely tracked by the Reserve Bank of India, is expected to come down to 7.80% in August from July's 7.96%.

On the global front, Asian shares tumbled on Wednesday as markets wagered the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates earlier than expected, sending US bond yields higher and keeping the dollar well bid near 14-month highs against a basket of major currencies. Meanwhile, European shares fell for a fourth straight day on Wednesday, taking cues from weak Asian shares and overnight drop in US markets, as the prospect of a tightening in US monetary conditions unnerved investors at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

Closer home, all the sectoral indices on BSE were mostly reeling under pressure, however, stocks from Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas and Information Technology (IT) counters were the prominent losers of the session, while maximum demand was witnessed by stocks from Realty, followed by Power and Infrastructure counter, which were the top gainers of the session. Meanwhile, Auto stocks too were in top gear after domestic passenger car sales grew by 15.16% to 153,758 units in August this year as compared to 1,33,513 units in the same month of 2013. According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), motorcycle sales during the month grew by 14.45 per cent to 910,312 units as against 7,95,411 units in August last year. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1693:1018; while 94 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27130.25, down by 135.07 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 27107.42 and 27251.44. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48%, while Small cap index up by 0.82%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.56%, Power up by 0.36%, INFRA up by 0.24%, Auto up by 0.11% and Metal up by 0.08% while, FMCG down by 1.22%, Oil & Gas down by 0.84%, IT down by 0.60%, Capital Goods down by 0.53 and Bankex down by 0.41% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 1.98%, Sesa Sterlite up by 1.49%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.15%, ICICI Bank up by 1.08% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.96%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.50%, Infosys down by 1.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.25%, SBI down by 1.24% and Reliance Industries down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, to better reflect the changes in Indian economy, the government has initiated the process to change the base year to 2011-12 from current 2004-05 for computing the country's gross domestic product (GDP).  Prices of the base year allows statisticians or economists to examine and compute the performance of the economy in real terms through the macroeconomic aggregates like GDP, national income, consumption expenditure and capital formation.

Ministry of Statistics has highlighted that with the passage of time, new products are manufactured and new data is added, expressing the need to change the base year. However, there will not be change in methodology for computing the GDP.

The government periodically revises the base year for computing the GDP to take into account the structural changes which take place in the economy and to depict a true picture of the economy through macro aggregates. The first official estimates of national income were prepared by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) for the estimates at constant prices. The base years of the National Accounts Statistics series have been shifted from 1948-49 to 1960-61 in August 1967; from 1960-61 to 1970-71 in January 1978; from 1970-71 to 1980-81 in February 1988; and from 1980-81 to 1993-94 in February 1999. After that it was changed to 2004-05 in the year of 2006.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8115.30, down by 37.65 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 8105.75 and 8135.75. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were IDFC up by 2.32%, Tata Power up by 1.80%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.53%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.46% and Sesa Sterlite up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 1.84%, ITC down by 1.76%, Infosys down by 1.50%, SBI down by 1.22% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian pacific shares were trading mostly lower; with Hang Seng declining by 406.93 points or 1.62% to 24,783.52; Taiwan Weighted shedding 77.16 points or 0.82% to 9,357.61; Jakarta Composite losing 49.36 points or 0.95% to 5,147.76; Shanghai Composite decreased 6.31 points or 0.27% to 2,320.22 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.49 points or 0.24% to 1,869.63 On the flip side, Straits Times increased 0.71 points or 0.02% to 3,343.67 and Nikkei 225 increased 39.63 points or 0.25% to 15,788.78 were the only gainers amongst Asian pack.

European shares got off to a lower start; with Germany’s DAX declining by 47.33 points or 0.49% to 9,710.70; France’s CAC losing 22.56 points or 0.5% to 4,452.37and UK’s FTSE 100 shedding 5.77 points or 0.08% to 6,829.00.