Markets remain in red; down by over a quarter percent

Local equity markets continue to trade in red though Sensex and Nifty were managing to hold above psychologically crucial 27,800 and 8,300 levels respectively. On the broader front, Midcap index bucking the trend was up with gains of over 0.30%, while Small-cap index was modestly in red. On the global front, Asian pacific shares were trading mixed ahead of US employment data later in the day. Reports suggests that U.S. employers likely hired new workers at a fairly brisk clip last month, underscoring the economy's resilience in the face of slowing global demand.

Closer home, some of the sectoral indices were trading into positive territory, while stocks from Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas counters were the notable gainers. Meanwhile, IT stocks too edged higher after Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation which provides information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services raised its guidance for 2014 revenue and non-GAAP EPS after announcing third quarter September 2014 results. On the flip side, much of the selling was witnessed by stocks from Capital Goods, Metal and Auto counters. Capital Goods counter drag was led by losses of L&T ahead of its earnings. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1105:881; while 20 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27810.28, down by 105.60 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 27739.56 and 27980.93. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.35%, while Small cap index down by 0.06%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.15%, Consumer Durables up by 0.73%, Oil & Gas up by 0.04%, while Capital Goods down by 0.95%, Metal down by 0.56%, Auto down by 0.55%, FMCG down by 0.40%, Power down by 0.31% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.23%, Axis Bank up by 2.69%, Hindalco up by 1.59%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.31% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.44%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.83%, GAIL India down by 1.77%, BHEL down by 1.69% and Wipro down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting high growth potential of domestic power sector, Power Minister Piyush Goyal has asserted that power sector has the potential to attract $250 billion investments over the next five years, of which $100 billion will come from renewable energy sector and $50 billion for the transmission networks. 

Piyush Goyal added that at present the country produce one trillion units power a year and aim is to take it to two trillion by 2019. Renewable and stranded gas-based power plants only produce around 10 percent of total number of units and thus need to be revived. Minister further added that the government is taking measures to overcome fuel challenges to provide power to all 1.2 billion people. Government is planning to double coal production target to one billion tonnes in the next five years to meet rising energy demands in the country. The Minister also called for an increasing private sector role in coal production and expressed interest in new gas discoveries and ways to get gas plants back on stream.

Industry installed power capacity stands at around 248 GW, out of which coal-fired plants account for about 59% and hydro plants accounts for around 17% of India's totalled installed electricity capacity. Presently, coal shortage in the country has become a key concern for Indian power sector. Indian domestic coal demand is around 35 percent higher than domestic supply. Coal India (CIL) is the only producer of coal in the country, which is struggling to meet domestic coal requirements. CIL production fell 4.21 percent short of its production target to 462.53 million tonnes in FY14 amid concerns like shutdown of mining activities in Talcher Coalfields in Odisha. The government has set coal production target at 507 million tonnes to Coal India for FY15.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8316.25, down by 22.05 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 8290.25 and 8360.35. There were 24 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 5.36%, BPCL up by 3.30%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.26%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.82% and Axis Bank up by 2.76%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.22%, Asian Paints down by 2.21%, GAIL India down by 2.08%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.95% and BHEL down by 1.92% were the top losers.Asian markets

were trading mixed; with KOSPI Index gained by 3.39 points or 0.18% to 1,939.87 Straits Times rose by 4.73 points or 0.14% to 3,295.69; Taiwan Weighted added 21.6 points or 0.24% to 8,912.62; Nikkei 225 advanced by 87.9 points or 0.52% to 16,880.38; On the flip side, Hang Seng declined by 56.66 points or 0.24% to 23,592.65; Jakarta Composite slid by 24.94 points or 0.5% to 5,009.29; Shanghai Composite shed 8.26 points or 0.34% to 2,417.60 and  FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI lost 0.74 points or 0.04% to 1,831.24