Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extended losses and continued trading in red hovering near the lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Capital Goods and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, DLF was trading firm after a tribunal overturned the three-year ban imposed on realty major and six of its top executives from accessing the share markets. DLF, India’s biggest listed realty developer, its chairman KP Singh and five others, including Mr Singh’s son and daughter were impacted by the ban. Cairn India was trading under pressure after the company has been issued a demand order of Rs 20,495 crore by the income-tax department. Bajaj Auto was trading in red after foreign brokerage house maintained underperform rating on the stock, citing structural as well as cyclical headwinds.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on mixed note while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,700 and 28,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 878:1789 while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28559.63, down by 370.78 points or 1.28% after trading in a range of 28558.59 and 29183.76. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.60%, while Small cap index down by 0.60%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.19% while, Bankex down by 1.62%, Capital Goods down by 1.50%, FMCG down by 1.46%, Auto down by 1.23%, Power down by 1.21% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.77%, NTPC up by 0.66%, Coal India up by 0.63%, HDFC up by 0.50% and ONGC up by 0.43%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.81%, Sun Pharma down by 2.47%, Axis Bank down by 2.34%, Wipro down by 2.21% and Tata Steel down by 2.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a major boost to the government’s reform agenda, the Rajya Sabha on Thursday approved the insurance bill, thereby raising the ceiling for foreign investment in the sector from 26% to 49%. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 will replace the ordinance promulgated by the government last year.

The passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha, with help from Congress, comes as a major relief to the Modi government which had been slamed for the high-handedness with which it had taken the ordinance route to carry out major policy decisions. Further, the passage of the bill, which provides power to Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA), also brings cheer for insurance agents. As per the Bill, the manner and amount of remuneration, or reward, to be paid or received by way of commission or otherwise, to an insurance agent or an intermediary, will be decided by the regulator.

Notably, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was able to get its thing done in the upper House, where it is in a minority, after the Congress decided to support the bill, signalling a rare consensus between the two national political parties on a key economic reform.

However, the passage of this bill in Rajya Sabha also raises hopes of legislative passage for some other crucial bills like the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill and Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, which have been referred to a select committee by the house.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8683.85, down by 92.15 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 8671.00 and 8849.75. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 8.53%, Asian Paints up by 0.94%, Coal India up by 0.84%, HDFC up by 0.75% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.73%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 2.92%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.80%, Cairn India down by 2.65%, HCL Tech down by 2.42% and Sun Pharma down by 2.41% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI Index increased 15.2 points or 0.77% to 1,985.79, Shanghai Composite increased 23.59 points or 0.7% to 3,372.91, Hang Seng increased 25.25 points or 0.11% to 23,823.21 and Nikkei 225 increased 263.14 points or 1.39% to 19,254.25.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 16.65 points or 0.17% to 9,579.35, Jakarta Composite decreased 8.98 points or 0.17% to 5,430.85, Straits Times decreased 6.33 points or 0.19% to 3,367.27 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.17 points or 0.07% to 1,785.70.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.68 points or 0.01% to 6,761.75, France’s CAC increased 3.63 points or 0.07% to 4,990.96 and Germany’s DAX increased 30.87 points or 0.26% to 11,830.26.