Markets languish in negative territory; trade with losses of over 1%

Local equity markets languishing at the bottom were trading with massive cut of over a percent that dragged both Sensex and Nifty below psychologically crucial 28,400 and 8,600 levels respectively on incremental profit-booking by market participants in the data heavy week. Meanwhile, broader indices also capitulating to selling pressure were trading with cuts of over 3 /4 of a percent.

The prevailing caution is on account of Q3 GDP data, which is scheduled to be unveiled later this week. Besides, Balance of Trade (BoT) data will be announced later in the day. Additionally, somber global cues also weighed on the sentiment.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares wobbled on Monday after dismal Chinese trade figures fuelled concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy. Data published on Sunday showed China's trade performance slumped in January, with exports falling 3.3% from year-ago levels while imports tumbled 19.9%, far worse than street had expected.

Closer home, with across the board selling pressure, none of the sectoral indices on BSE managed to hold into green, however, worst performers were the stocks from Metal, Infrastructure and Capital Goods counters. On the result front, Jammu & Kashmir Bank fell 9.21% after net profit fell 67.43% to Rs 104.64 crore on 2.58% increase in total income to Rs 1849.44 crore in the quarter under review over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Additionally, Tata Steel lost 3.01% after consolidated net profit slumped 68.78% to Rs 157 crore on 8.44% decline in turnover to Rs 33633 crore over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1400:620; while 23 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28428.60, down by 289.31 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 28337.43 and 28566.50. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.78%, while Small cap index was down by 0.72%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.04%, INFRA down by 1.57%, Capital Goods down by 1.52%, Realty down by 1.33%, Auto down by 1.24%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.80%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.72%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.20%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.63% and Infosys up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.70%, GAIL India down by 4.37%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.28%, Cipla down by 2.89% and Sesa Sterlite down by 2.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, reversing the trend, India’s coal import fell by 20% at 15.73 million tonnes during January as against 19.75 Mt in December, 2014 due to lower demand from domestic steel makers. The January imports, however, were a marginal 2% more than the 15.37 MT imports in the same month of last year. Notably, Indian power companies have imported 163 MT stem coal out of the country's total coal imports of 210.55 MT in the entire 2014, accounting for more than 77% of imports.

Of the total imports during January this year, non-coking coal rose marginally higher at 15.91 MT compared to 15.36 MT in December, led by higher demand from country's fuel-hungry power plants, which have been battling fuel scarcity for a long time now.

Besides, imports of metallurgical coke, which is also used by the steel firms, were down to 98,770 tonnes from 1.76 lakh tonnes. Petroleum coke imports also decreased to 4.78 lakh tonnes from 6.9 lakh tonnes in December, 2014. Moreover, there was no import of pulverized coal in January as against 2.9 lakh tonnes in the previous month. On the flip side, Anthracite coal imports rose to 52,293 tonnes in January from 33,190 tonnes in December 2014. Additionally, India's imported coal stocks, including steam coal and coking coal at eight major and two private ports rose by 2.27% to 8.207 MT in January-end against 8.025 MT as on December 26.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8576.80, down by 84.25 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 8547.30 and 8605.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.77%, Asian Paints up by 1.67%, ONGC up by 1.61%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.45% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.79%, GAIL India down by 4.34%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.67%, BPCL down by 3.12% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Hang Seng trading lower by 115.63 points or 0.47% to 24,563.76;  Taiwan Weighted trading lower by 34.68 points or 0.37% to 9,421.50; KOSPI Index trading lower by 8.52 points or 0.44% to 1,947.00; Straits Times trading lower by 4.28 points or 0.12% to 3,427.08 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI trading lower by 1.04 points or 0.06% to 1,812.21.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite trading higher by 16.01 points or 0.52% to 3,091.92;  Jakarta Composite trading higher by 24.79 points or 0.46% to 5,367.30 and  Nikkei 225 trading higher by 63.43 points or 0.36% to 17,711.93