Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 8750 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late morning session, with the Sensex losing about 100 points and Nifty falling below the 8750 level, weighed down by rate-sensitive sectors like banks, auto and capital goods shares. Sentiment took a hit after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan decided to leave repo rate unchanged at its credit policy meet yesterday.  Some weakness also came with the report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 264.35 crore on February 03, 2015. Besides, disappointing earnings also weighed on the sentiment. However, losses remained capped as some support came in with the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who pitching India growth story before global investors has promised them a fair, predictable and consistent tax system and growth-focused economic policies. The RBI has decided to liberalise FDI norms by allowing greater flexibility in the pricing of instruments with a view to attract more investments from overseas.

On global front, Asian stocks rebounded from an almost two-week low, led by material and energy companies, after an advance in U.S. equities as oil entered a bull market. Oil prices were holding hefty gains in Asia on Wednesday having rallied 19% in just four sessions. Back home, Indian rupee gained 11 paise to 61.56 against the US dollar in early trade amid sustained overseas capital inflows.

Back on street, stocks from Metal, Consumer Durables and Realty counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Banking, Capital Goods and Auto counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of ONGC extended its yesterday’s rally of 2.6% on rising crude oil prices. On the other hand, shares of Shree Cement declined on reporting 18.88% in its net profit at Rs 93.68 crore for second quarter ended December 31, 2014 as compared to Rs 115.49 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2312 stocks traded, 1078 stocks advanced, while 1129 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28903.87, down by 96.27 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 28867.00 and 29133.62. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.30%, while Small cap index up by 0.04%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.04%, Consumer Durables up by 0.63%, Realty up by 0.54%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36% and INFRA up by 0.14% while, Bankex down by 1.29%, Capital Goods down by 1.03%, Auto down by 0.89%, Power down by 0.64% and FMCG down by 0.34% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.21%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.11%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.91%, Tata Power up by 1.26% and Tata Steel up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.38%, BHEL down by 2.79%, SBI down by 2.10%, TCS down by 1.75% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, on the back of decline in global oil prices, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) slashed price of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.42 per litre and Rs 2.25 per litre respectively. Following the cut, petrol will cost Rs 56.49 per litre (ex-Delhi), while diesel will cost Rs 46.01.

Notably, this reduction marks tenth cut in petrol since August and sixth in diesel since its de-regulation in October. Fuel prices were last revised on January 16 when petrol and diesel prices were reduced by same margin in the wake of falling crude prices.

With both international prices of petrol and diesel continuing their downtrend and the rupee-dollar rates appreciating, Oil Marketing companies went ahead and further reduced fuel prices. These companies also underscored that combined impact of both these factors warranted a decrease in retail selling price of both petrol and diesel. Further, with this development, petrol price is the lowest since September 2010 while diesel is cheapest since March 2013.

Back in January, the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre. This was the fourth hike in excise duty since November. Cumulatively, excise duty on petrol was hiked by Rs 7.75 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.50 a litre. But for these, the cumulative reduction of Rs. 17.11 per litre in petrol price in 10 cuts since August and Rs. 12.96 a litre on diesel since its deregulation in October would have been higher.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8722.55, down by 34.00 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 8719.95 and 8792.85. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 3.53%, Jindal Steel & Power up by 3.06%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.04%, Sun Pharma up by 1.98% and ONGC up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.61%, BHEL down by 2.88%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.68%, SBI down by 2.23% and TCS down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in the green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.33%, KOSPI Index strengthened 0.63%, Straits Times increased 0.44%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 1.32%, Jakarta Composite gained 0.60%, Taiwan Weighted jumped 0.77%, Hang Seng increased 0.90% and Nikkei 225 was up by 1.86%.