Benchmarks witness bloodbath in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-down start, witnessing bloodbath in early deals with key gauges declining below their crucial 26,900 (Sensex) and 8,200 (Nifty) levels as sentiment turned weak in the absence of any positive trigger amid sustained capital outflows by foreign funds. Moreover, traders remained concerned ahead of political developments, as a face-off between the opposition and government over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill is likely with the Congress and some other opposition parties insisting that it be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny.

Global cues too remained sluggish with the US markets ending lower in last session, offsetting the strength witnessed in the previous session. Traders turned cautious about interest rate hike after the release of upbeat service sector data. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index rose to 57.8 in April from 56.5 in March. The Asian markets were trading mostly in the red at this point of time, though the Chinese market has bounced back after slumping 4.1 percent in last session.

Back home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include realty, oil and gas, public sector undertaking, power and metal. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 333 shares on the gaining side against 1,551 shares on the losing side while 58 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26890.58, down by 549.56 points or 2.00% after trading in a range of 26868.45 and 27501.15. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.11%, while Small cap index slumped by 2.03%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.33%, Oil & Gas down by 2.93%, PSU down by 2.76%, Power down by 2.50%, Metal down by 2.39%, while there were no gainers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.77%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.60%, Cipla down by 3.55%, Axis Bank down by 3.30%, ONGC down by 3.22% and Vedanta down by 3.18% 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 on 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 8150.15, down by 174.65 points or 2.10% after trading in a range of 8141.15 and 8331.95. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.70% and Cairn India up by 0.26%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.72%, Ambuja Cement down by 4.29%, BHEL down by 3.79%, Cipla down by 3.55% and Asian Paints down by 3.37% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; KOSPI Index declined 33.22 points or 1.56% to 2,099.01, Taiwan Weighted slipped 9.55 points or 0.1% to 9,810.58, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 9.35 points or 0.51% to 1,818.07, Jakarta Composite shed 6.6 points or 0.13% to 5,153.71 and Straits Times was down by 5.64 points or 0.16% to 3,465.55.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 58 points or 1.35% to 4,356.70 and Hang Seng was up by 251.37 points or 0.91% to 28,006.91.