Benchmarks trades in red; IT, TECK drag

Indian equity markets were trading in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure after, in the first major downgrade for Indian markets in the past one year, global brokerage HSBC changed its stance on the foreign darling country to underweight from overweight on the expectations of corporate earnings remaining muted, monsoon turning weak and growing odds against further rate cuts. Traders were seen piling position in PSU, Infra and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Capital Goods sector. In scrip specific development, Lupin was trading in red on reporting disappointing Q4 results. For the quarter ended March 2015, the company registered consolidated net profit of Rs 547.01 crore, down 1.08 percent, against Rs 553.01 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,200 and 27,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1255:1231 while 100 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27060.45, down by 190.65 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 26948.62 and 27293.99. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.58%, while Small cap index up by 0.42%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.44%, INFRA up by 0.35%, Oil & Gas up by 0.35%, Power up by 0.27%, Auto up by 0.22% while, IT down by 1.18%, TECK down by 0.81%, Capital Goods down by 0.55%, Bankex down by 0.52%, Consumer Durables down by 0.48% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.47%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.92%, SBI up by 1.22%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.14% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.06%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.07%, HDFC down by 1.80%, Infosys down by 1.49%, ICICI Bank down by 1.32% and Sun Pharma down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a severe disinflationary trend warranting a radical measure, the annual rate of inflation, based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI) ebbed to- 2.65% in April as compared to -2.33% witnessed in March. The number was also way lower than the street expectation of a figure of -2.07% for the month under review.

Meanwhile, February WPI was revised to -2.7% against -2.06% reported earlier. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was -0.06% compared to a build up rate of 0.28% in the corresponding period of the previous year. The official Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities’ for the month under review declined by 0.1% to 176.0 (provisional) from 176.1 for the previous month.

The major fall came on the back of cheaper manufactured foods and food items.  Food inflation further eased to 5.73% for the month under review against three month low figure of 6.31% in March. Further the manufacturing products index, which occupies the maximum 64.97% weight in the overall index declined by 0.1% to 153.8 (provisional) from 153.9 (provisional) in March. The index for Food & Fuel group, which contributes to 14.91% weight in the overall index, declined by 1.7% to 184.2 (provisional) from 187.3 (provisional) for the previous month due to lower price of furnace oil (9%), petrol  and high speed diesel (3% each), aviation turbine fuel (2%) and electricity (1%).

However, the index for primary articles, which occupies 20.12% weight in the overall index, rose by 0.9% to 241.8 (provisional) from 239.6 (provisional) for the previous month.

Notably, this is the sixth successive month of deflating prices, with the latest number pressing the need for radical measures to address this severe disinflationary trend and fuelling renewed demands for further rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India after lower than expected IIP figures and softer than expected retail Inflation data.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8192.60, down by 42.85 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 8137.30 and 8232.80. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 4.50%, Hindalco up by 2.51%, BPCL up by 2.40%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.00% and Idea Cellular up by 1.87%.

On the flip side, Lupin down by 3.79%, Vedanta down by 2.31%, HCL Tech down by 1.70%, HDFC down by 1.63% and Infosys down by 1.47% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 2.55 points or 0.06% to 4,378.31, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.98 points or 0.17% to 1,806.00, KOSPI Index increased 6.17 points or 0.29% to 2,120.33 and Hang Seng increased 37.27 points or 0.14% to 27,286.55.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 194.48 points or 0.98% to 19,570.24, Taiwan Weighted decreased 113.28 points or 1.16% to 9,610.83 and Straits Times decreased 3.61 points or 0.1% to 3,449.56.

Indonesia stock exchange was closed on account of ‘Ascension Day’ holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 36.88 points or 0.32% to 11,314.58, France’s CAC decreased 16.92 points or 0.34% to 4,944.94 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 20.91 points or 0.3% to 6,928.72.