Benchmarks trade in red in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on lackadaisical note from the early trade despite Paris-based think tank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has given a pat on governments reform measures and has said that India’s economic growth is firming up and prospects are also looking better in most of the other major economies. Traders were seen piling positions in TECK, Consumer Durables and Infra stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Capital Goods and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, telecom stocks, including those of market leader Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and MTNL were trading firm on reports that the bidding intensity in the ongoing spectrum auction has reduced drastically. Sesa Sterlite was trading in red after the company halved its capex plans for FY16.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,750 and 28,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1178:1478 while 144 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28681.29, down by 163.49 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 28654.50 and 28949.11. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.42%, while Small cap index down by 0.25%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 0.73%, Consumer Durables up by 0.63%, INFRA up by 0.41%, Auto up by 0.41%, Metal up by 0.12% while, Realty down by 1.84%, Capital Goods down by 1.25%, Power down by 1.22%, Oil & Gas down by 1.09%, Bankex down by 0.73% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 6.48%, Coal India up by 2.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.79%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.36% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.82%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.90%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.28%, NTPC down by 1.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.79% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an encouraging development for the sector, earnings of Railways during April 2014-Feburary 2015 have surged by 12.93% at Rs 1,42,358.27 crore compared to Rs 1,26,064.06 crore during the same period last year, according to Railway Ministry data. However, the total numbers of passengers booked during April 2014-February 2015 slid by 2.12% at 7,546.49 million compared to 7,709.62 million during the same period last year.

Further the Ministry has pointed that the earnings from freight during the April-February period were Rs 96,613.19 crore compared to Rs 85,666.65 crore during the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, the earnings from passenger traffic too rose by 14.73% during this period were Rs 38,726.74 crore compared to Rs 33,755.50 crore during the same period last year. Lastly, the earnings from other coaching rose by 5.81% at Rs 3,682.44 crore during the 11-month period compared to Rs 3,480.33 crore last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8702.45, down by 54.30 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 8693.95 and 8778.00. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 6.61%, Coal India up by 2.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.72%, Lupin up by 1.66% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.49%.

On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.93%, DLF down by 3.15%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.99%, Power Grid Corporation down by 2.16% and Sesa Sterlite down by 2.03% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 226.07 points or 0.94% to 23,896.98, Nikkei 225 decreased 125.44 points or 0.67% to 18,665.11, Taiwan Weighted decreased 26.45 points or 0.28% to 9,536.53, Shanghai Composite decreased 16.34 points or 0.49% to 3,286.07, KOSPI Index decreased 8.05 points or 0.4% to 1,984.77 and Straits Times decreased 2.76 points or 0.08% to 3,401.81. On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.83 points or 0.33% to 1,797.57 and Jakarta Composite increased 23.59 points or 0.43% to 5,468.22.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 42.4 points or 0.37% to 11,539.71, France’s CAC decreased 19.21 points or 0.39% to 4,917.99 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 21.77 points or 0.32% to 6,854.70.