Markets continue to reel in red lacking any positive cues

Indian markets are not seeing any sign of revival in the early noon session after giving up their morning gains. Although the Asian counterparts have bounced back, led by gains in material companies and energy producers. The profit booking has subsided but there are no major cues to support the markets and both the benchmarks extending fall of last session were down by around half a percent. The broader markets too were reeling in red. Traders were now eyeing some big earnings announcement which would guide the movement in the market. IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is expected to report a muted fourth quarter earnings today, putting the whole sectoral gauge in the somber mood. On the other hand the oil and gas sector was showing a firm trade taking cues from their global peers after the crude oil jumped six per cent overnight.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28697.12, down by 102.57 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 28622.86 and 28876.23. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.52%, while Small cap index lost 0.67%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.70%, Auto up by 0.28%, INFRA up by 0.08%, Consumer Durables up by 0.04%, while IT down by 1.36%, Realty down by 1.27%, TECK down by 0.98%, Capital Goods down by 0.97%, Power down by 0.63% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.70%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.05%, Tata Motors up by 1.04%, Hindalco up by 0.92% and GAIL India up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.34%, Infosys down by 1.67%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.54%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.35% and TCS down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) batting for the domestic steel industry has urged the government to reduce iron ore prices by about 25 per cent. In a communication addressed to Union Steel and Mines Minister, the industry body said that “Asian economies like China, Japan and Korea have become more competitive and are exporting steel to India at throwaway prices due to drop in platts iron ore index thereby creating huge problem in India and posing threat to survival and sustainability of domestic steel industry.”

ASSOCHAM has noted that iron ore prices in international market have been dropping continuously and it had also dropped substantially in March this year. The platts index in global market has fallen from $63 per ton to $54 per ton i.e. by Rs 550 per ton approximately i.e. from March 1, 2015 to March 26, 2015.

The industry body in its letter has noted that India’s leading iron ore producer, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is charging 25 per cent higher as compared to other iron ore miners based in Odisha which is adversely impacting domestic steel industry and while NMDC has reduced prices of iron ore lump and fines (from January 2015) which are in line with those prevailing both in Odisha and international market, still the state-run miner is charging much higher prices for iron ore fines. It further stated that suppliers from Odisha are offering 63 per cent Fe iron ore fines at the rate of Rs 2,150 per ton in comparison to Rs 2,340 (together with Rs 351 for royalty) charged by NMDC which is higher by about Rs 500-600 per ton.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8705.10, down by 45.10 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 8684.15 and 8760.00. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index, while one remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 3.95%, ONGC up by 2.74%, Idea Cellular up by 1.59%, Hindalco up by 1.29% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 2.76%, Wipro down by 2.47%, PNB down by 2.19%, Asian Paints down by 2.04% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.75 points or 0.1% to 1,841.88, Jakarta Composite gained 5.88 points or 0.11% to 5,420.43, Nikkei 225 added 16.01 points or 0.08% to 19,885.77, KOSPI Index was up by 19.94 points or 0.94% to 2,139.90, Hang Seng moved higher by 60.22 points or 0.22% to 27,679.04, Shanghai Composite gained 81.85 points or 2% to 4,166.02 and Taiwan Weighted surged by 116.81 points or 1.22% to 9,656.87, on the other hand Straits Times was the lone loser, down by 10.13 points or 0.29% to 3,529.82.