Benchmark off day’s low; yet trade with losses of around 0.20%

Benchmark equity indices were trading lower with losses of around two tenth of a percent in absence of positive cues, which dragged both Sensex and Nifty below psychologically crucial 27,800 and 8,450 levels respectively on sustained selling activities by market-participants due to increased capital inflows amid a mixed trend in global markets. Nevertheless, benchmarks recovered some of their losses mainly on account of value buying activity which got triggered at lower levels that lifted the benchmarks off day’s low level. Meanwhile, the session was proving comparatively weaker for broader indices, which were trading with losses in the range of 0.20-0.60%.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares were trading mixed at this point of time as Japan’s stocks stayed near a 15-year high Thursday, though weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data kept a cap on gains in Australia and China. The region’s lackluster performance came after a reading of the HSBC China manufacturing purchasing managers index, a gauge of the country’s factory activity, came in at 49.1 in May, compared with a projected 49.3. The reading was at 48.9 in April. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Closer home, most of the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into negative territory, stocks from FMCG, Power and Oil & Gas counters were the prominent losers of the session. On the flip side, stocks from Realty, Auto and Information Technology counters were the prominent gainers of the session. In stock-specific activity, shares of three public sector oil marketing companies fell after global crude oil prices rose. The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 1270:744; while 29 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27780.53, down by 56.68 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 27712.73 and 27911.44. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.58%, while Small cap index lost 0.23%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.92%, Auto up by 0.48%, IT up by 0.39%, TECK up by 0.30%, Capital Goods up by 0.26%, while FMCG down by 0.91%, Power down by 0.62%, Oil & Gas down by 0.55%, Metal down by 0.53%, Bankex down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.63%, Coal India up by 3.21%, Axis Bank up by 1.27%, Tata Motors up by 1.09% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.82%, Vedanta down by 2.38%, Cipla down by 1.90%, ITC down by 1.67% and Tata Power down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has said that Indian economy is expected to expand at 8.5-9 percent over 10-15 year time frame once the structural issues hampering growth are addressed by the government. Mehrishi added that “India has a growth potential close to 8.5 percent to 9 percent over the next 10-15 years... The short term growth may be lower on account of structural issues which we are tackling”.

Finance Secretary further stated that strong economic growth, is necessary for solving many socio-economic problems facing the country and the government has taken various initiatives to deal with the structural issues like going in for auction of key infrastructure inputs such as coal and spectrum, setting up of the MUDRA Bank and streamlining the norms for foreign direct investment (FDI).

Talking about the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) projection of below normal monsoon, the Finance Secretary said: 'A weak monsoon generally leads to low rural economic growth and spike in prices of food commodities. However, this year food prices are expected to remain stable”, as the government was also taking a host of steps to address rural distress “through programmes rather that price distorting measures”. India’s growth is expected to be at least 8 percent in the current fiscal on account of initiatives taken by the government to boost investment and growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8409.70, down by 13.55 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8382.50 and 8446.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 3.66%, Coal India up by 2.96%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.23%, ACC up by 1.80% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.45%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.97%, Vedanta down by 2.57%, Bank Of Baroda down by 2.47%, Cipla down by 2.06% and Yes Bank down by 1.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; with Taiwan Weighted was trading lower by 106.75 points or 1.1% to 9,578.56; Hang Seng was trading lower by 88.51 points or 0.32% to 27,496.54; KOSPI Index was trading lower by 16.73 points or 0.78% to 2,122.81; Jakarta Composite was trading lower by 13.49 points or 0.25% to 5,279.26 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was trading lower by 4.22 points or 0.23% to 1,805.89.

On the flip side, Straits Times up by 0.65 points or 0.02% to 3,440.33; Nikkei 225 up by 6.31 points or 0.03% to 20,202.87 and Shanghai Composite up by 57.56 points or 1.29% to 4,503.85 were the top gainers amongst Asian pack.