Benchmarks extend losses; Nifty slips below 8,250 mark

Indian equity markets extend losses and continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from European counterparts. Investors maintained cautious approach ahead of the release of key macroeconomic data, i.e. consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data scheduled to be released today. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, OnMobile Global was locked at upper circuit limit after the company’s board approved a share buy-back plan. Suven Life Sciences was trading in green on getting five product patents for its new chemical entities (NCEs) in four countries.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,250 and 27,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1178:1534 while 109 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27446.99, down by 155.02 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 27423.74 and 27692.32. 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 0.49%, while Small cap index down by 0.62%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.43% while, Realty down by 1.97%, Oil & Gas down by 1.86%, Capital Goods down by 1.19%, Metal down by 1.15%, Consumer Durables down by 1.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.34%, Sun Pharma up by 1.20%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.91%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.85% and Coal India up by 0.55%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 5.58%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.84%, Tata Steel down by 2.76%, ONGC down by 2.52% and TCS down by 2.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, echoing Finance Minister’s assurance of rise in the current account deficit (CAD) not being a cause for concern, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has reiterated that the current account deficit (CAD), which widened to $10.1 billion or 2.1% of GDP in July- September period, was at comfortable level, however, he also acknowledged the risk associated to these levels. As per RBI data, CAD widened to 2.1% due to rising gold imports in the second quarter of this fiscal, up from 1.2% a year-ago.

The central bank pointed higher trade deficit due to rising gold imports was the primary reason for the spike in CAD. Gold imports surged 8.1%, while merchandise exports growth dipped 4.9% in the reporting quarter. The scrapping of controversial 80:20 gold import norm mainly led to sharp uptick of 80:20 gold import norm.

Rajan, however, highlighted the difficulty in maintaining the restrictions on gold imports for a long time, thereby emphasizing the need for relaxing such norms.

The governor though expressed hopes that with inflation going southwards, fixed income deposit would be turn more attractive and in turn reduce the imports of gold.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8247.25, down by 45.65 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 8246.40 and 8321.90. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 1.73%, NMDC up by 1.60%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.56%, Lupin up by 1.55% and Sun Pharma up by 1.26%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 5.66%, Cairn India down by 3.35%, DLF down by 3.01%, HCL Tech down by 2.77% and Sesa Sterlite down by 2.59% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 5.12 points or 0.27% to 1,921.71, Shanghai Composite increased 12.43 points or 0.42% to 2,938.17, Straits Times increased 14.24 points or 0.43% to 3,332.94, Taiwan Weighted increased 14.26 points or 0.16% to 9,027.33, Jakarta Composite increased 20.68 points or 0.4% to 5,173.38 and Nikkei 225 increased 114.18 points or 0.66% to 17,371.58.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 63.34 points or 0.27% to 23,249.20 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.37 points or 0.54% to 1,735.20.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 137.19 points or 1.39% to 9,725.34, France’s CAC decreased 56.74 points or 1.34% to 4,169.12 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 81.02 points or 1.25% to 6,380.68.