Benchmarks trades in red in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets removed all gains and started trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The market however got support at lower levels as investors took note of finance minister Arun Jaitley statement who enlightened that the government has initiated a large number of reforms in its first year of governance to encourage investments and the country has the potential to grow at 9-10%. Traders were seen piling positions in Metal, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Power, Infra and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In scrip specific development, SKS Microfinance was trading firm after the company came up with an over 49 percent rise in net profit for the quarter ended March. The microfinance lender’s net profit came in at Rs 40.54 crore for the quarter under review, compared with Rs 27.11 crore a year ago.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,350 and 27,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1208:1359 while 117 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27432.68, down by 57.91 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 27338.23 and 27603.71. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index up by 0.10%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.24%, Capital Goods up by 0.36%, Oil & Gas up by 0.33%, Realty up by 0.23% and FMCG up by 0.09% while, Power down by 0.96%, INFRA down by 0.80%, Consumer Durables down by 0.42%, TECK down by 0.41% and IT down by 0.27% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up by 6.57%, Tata Steel up by 4.35%, Hindalco up by 3.53%, ONGC up by 2.78% and TCS up by 1.45%.

On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.21%, NTPC down by 2.03%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.02% and Coal India down by 1.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the fate of Real Estate Bill, which seeks to regulate realty business, will be tested today .i.e. Tuesday in Rajya Sabha where it is up for consideration as main opposition Congress has upped the ante against it. 

After witnessing a number of hurdles mainly from opposition, the government had to defer the bill on April 29, with the Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu negotiating more time for government for holding more consultations with parties.

NDA government had to defer the bill after Congress demanded the bill to be referred to a Select Committee of Parliament. Since then, the approach of Congress against the bill has become more aggressive, with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi meeting home buyers from NCR region and accusing the government of working against middle class home-buyers by 'diluting' the bill and making it “pro-builders”.

Both the parties are loggerheads over the bill, with Congress deciding to bring out the 'contrast' between UPA's Real Estate Bill and NDA's legislation on the lines of what it did in the case of Land Acquisition Bill, while Government, on its part would be working to garner the support of some regional parties for passage of the bill.

According to NDA government, this bill is aimed to regulate and promote real estate sector and protect the interest of consumers, however Opposition in Rajya Sabha rejected this bill citing that the amendments proposed were based on suggestions of the Standing Committee, which is nothing but representation of all political parties, and therefore wanted it to be referred to select Committee of Parliament.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8311.85, down by 20.10 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 8280.60 and 8355.65. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Vedanta up by 6.61%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.80%, Tata Steel up by 4.48%, Hindalco up by 4.09% and NMDC up by 3.54%.

On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.47%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.13%, NTPC down by 2.13% and Cipla down by 2.09% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 368.28 points or 1.31% to 27,755.54, Shanghai Composite decreased 181.76 points or 4.06% to 4,298.71, Taiwan Weighted decreased 24.91 points or 0.25% to 9,820.13 and Straits Times decreased 15.53 points or 0.45% to 3,467.17. On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.34 points or 0.13% to 1,820.61 and Jakarta Composite increased 10.52 points or 0.2% to 5,151.66.

Japanese stock exchange was closed today on account of ‘Greenery Day’ holiday while South Korea exchange was closed on account of ‘Children’s Day’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 42.33 points or 0.83% to 5,124.30, Germany’s DAX increased 105.03 points or 0.9% to 11,724.88 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 61.27 points or 0.88% to 7,047.22.