Markets continue to trade slightly in red in afternoon session

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the afternoon session as selling momentum in the equities persisted, however the losses were capped and marginal recovery from day's low levels was seen as buying appeared in FMCG, capital goods and banking stocks. Though, most of the sectoral indices on domestic bourses were trading in green, sharp selling witnessed in metal and oil & gas stocks dragged down the major indices. Investors also opted to remain on sidelines ahead of major macro data of inflation and industrial production to be announced later in the day. However, losses remained capped as positive industry related announcement by the government to boost the domestic economic growth has provided some support to market sentiments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to make India the easiest destination to do business with a stable tax regime and a predictable, transparent and fair policy environment. Among blue chip stocks, Hindustan Unilever was top gainer up by around 2.84%, while Coal India was top loser trading down by around 4.20%. However, broader indices outperformed the major indices with high margin as both mid cap and small cap indices trading up by over 0.55%. In scrip specific movement, United Spirits was trading higher by around 4% to Rs 2,960 after the company said its minority shareholders have approved a proposal to enter into licensing and cost sharing agreements with certain subsidiaries of its parent Diageo Plc.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red with Shanghai Composite down 1.94% and Taiwan Weighted down 0.4%, tracking weak cues from the US markets. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,200 and 27,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,534 stocks traded, 1,455 stocks advanced, while 966 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27435.39, down by 22.99 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 27333.08 and 27539.55. There were 13 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.59%, while Small cap index up by 0.73%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.22%, Capital Goods up by 0.58%, Bankex up by 0.49%, Power up by 0.36% and IT up by 0.35%. On the other hand, Metal down by 1.63%, Oil & Gas down by 1.21%, PSU down by 0.45%, INFRA down by 0.28% and Auto down by 0.22% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.84%, Axis Bank up by 1.03%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.99%, Infosys up by 0.94% and BHEL up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.20%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.96%, Hindalco down by 1.61%, Reliance Industries down by 1.44% and GAIL India down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, optimistic over the improving macro-economic fundamentals of the economy, the World Bank has estimated that Indian economy is likely to grow by 6.4% in 2015 and accelerate further in the next year on the back of steps being taken by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government.  The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has asserted that India will be a bright spot in an otherwise medium global economic outlook as government have been quickly taking measures for rapid growth, streamlining national regulatory structure and promoting social inclusion.

World Bank President further stated that the implementation of Goods and Services Tax will improve the business sentiments and create one common market and substantial saving for companies on logistics. However, he asserted that an enduring ‘bias’ on the basis of caste and other factors can impede prosperity of the country.

After registering an average growth rate of 8% during FY08-FY12, Indian economic growth had slowed down to below 5% over the last two financial years. The factors like high interest rate and stubborn inflation, low investments and slow execution of infrastructure projects have impacted country’s economy growth. However, the domestic economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at 5.5% during first half of this fiscal as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8281.85, down by 2.65 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 8245.60 and 8297.65. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.68%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.18%, Bank Of Baroda up by 2.08%, PNB up by 2.01% and Indusind Bank up by 1.48%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 4.12%, Cairn India down by 3.58%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.04%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 1.93% and Hindalco down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian Markets were trading in red, Hang Seng up by 45.9 points or 0.19% to 23,965.85, Shanghai Composite down 63.79 points or 1.94% to 3,221.63, Taiwan Weighted down 37.28 points or 0.4% to 9,178.30, Jakarta Composite down 33.18 points or 0.64% to 5,183.49, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down 5.3 points or 0.31% to 1,727.14, KOSPI Index down 3.75 points or 0.19% to 1,920.95, Straits Times down 2.13 points or 0.06% to 3,336.31