Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 7950 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late morning session, with the Sensex losing over 50 points and Nifty falling below the 7950 level, weighed down by Realty, Metal, Oil & Gas and FMCG stocks. Sentiment on the street weakened on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 485.93 crore on September 30, 2014. Besides, there was some cautiousness among investors as data released by the Controller General of Accounts revealed that Fiscal deficit touched 74.9 percent of the Budget Estimates for 2014-15 to cross Rs 3.97 lakh crore at the end of August. However, gains in IT, Power and Infrastructure stocks have restrained the market to extend losses. Some support also came in from RBI’s statement that the country's GDP growth, which it estimates to be 5.5% in the current fiscal, will improve to 6.3% in 2015-16. Furthermore, led by healthy growth in coal, cement and electricity sectors, the eight core industries grew by 5.8% in August this year against 4.7% in the same month last year.

Aviation stocks have rallied as state-owned oil companies reduced the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) or jet fuel by a steep 3% on the back of falling international oil rates. On the flip side, financial stocks were trading lower after Reserve Bank of India's neutral stance on key policy rates. In scrip specific development, Shares of Wipro were trading higher on reports that the government has approved the proposal of Wipro to set up SEZs in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, IVRCL rose after the company has put up Rs 4000 crore worth of assets for sale and expects to come out of debt burden in the next two years once the sale is successful.

Meanwhile, some participants remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity in view of a holiday-shortened week as markets will remain closed on Thursday and Friday for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanthi and Dussehra, respectively. The market is also closed on Monday, October 6, for Bakri Id.

On global front, Asian shares declined as continued civil unrest in Hong Kong and a downbeat day on Wall Street sapped confidence, while the dollar index was close to a four-year high after marking its best quarterly gain in six years.  Back home, Indian rupee slumped as low as 61.95 per dollar on Wednesday, its weakest level since March 4, as participants unwound positions ahead of holidays and at a time when the greenback is gaining globally. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2187 stocks traded, 1090 stocks advanced, while 1012 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26576.61 down by 53.90 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 26683.70 and 26575.74. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.48%, TECK up by 1.17%, Power up by 0.34%, Infrastructure up by 0.26% and Consumer Durables up by 0.09% while, Realty down by 0.99%, Oil & Gas down by 0.89%, Metal down by 0.89%, FMCG down by 0.65% and Bankex down by 0.49% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.68%, TCS up by 1.50%, Infosys up by 1.18%, NTPC up by 0.97% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.86%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.39%, Hindalco down by 1.95%, GAIL India down by 1.84% and ITC down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Sounding an alarm bell for the government, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts has revealed that the Fiscal deficit touched 74.9 percent of the Budget Estimates for 2014-15 to cross Rs 3.97 lakh crore in the first five month of the fiscal at the end of August. However, the numbers are only slightly higher than the deficit of 74.6 percent of the Budget Estimates (BE) at the end of August in the 2013-14 fiscal.

Fiscal deficit, the gap between government expenditure and revenue, for the whole fiscal 2014-15, has been pegged at Rs 5.31 lakh crore or 4.1 percent of GDP and as per fiscal consolidation roadmap it has to be brought down to 3 percent of the GDP by 2016-17.

Meanwhile, the Controller General of Accounts data showed that the total expenditure of the government during April-August was over Rs 6.72 lakh crore or 37.5 percent of the estimates for the entire 2014-15 fiscal. Of which, Plan expenditure was over Rs 1.77 lakh crore, while non-plan expenditure stood at Rs 4.95 lakh crore.

On the revenue deficit front the government has already reached 85.8 percent of the BE or over Rs 3.24 lakh crore in the first five months with revenue collection coming little over Rs 2.7 lakh crore or 22.7 percent of the BE. Net tax receipts were at Rs 1.85 lakh crore in the first five months of the current fiscal year that ends in March 2015.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7,947.35 down by 17.45 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 7,977.50 and 7,946.00. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.51%, HCL Tech up by 1.62%, TCS up by 1.62%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.42% and Power Grid up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 3.24%, Tata Steel down by 2.69%, GAIL India down by 2.21%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.12% and Hindalco down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 tumbled by 0.03%, KOSPI Index slipped 1.36%, Straits Times decreased 0.29% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.01%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped by 0.18% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.25%.

Shanghai and Hong Kong markets remained shut for the trade today for National Day holiday.