Benchmarks continue to trade in red; FMCG, Infra drag

Indian equity markets trimmed losses but continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Capital Goods and Auto stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Infra and Oil & Gas sectors stocks. In scrip specific development, Tata Steel was trading in red after it announced dismal March quarter results. It has reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5674 crore in the quarter ended March 2015 against a profit of Rs 1036 crore in corresponding quarter last fiscal. An exceptional loss of Rs 4811 crore dented the company’s profit. Claris Lifesciences was trading in green after media reports suggested that Cadila Healthcare has emerged the front runner to acquire the generic sterile injectables business of Ahmedabad headquartered Claris.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,450 and 27,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1050:1462 while 119 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27825.59, down by 11.62 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 27712.73 and 27911.44. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.47%, while Small cap index down by 0.01%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.93%, Capital Goods up by 0.63%, Auto up by 0.56%, IT up by 0.34% and PSU up by 0.26% while, FMCG down by 0.76%, INFRA down by 0.56%, Oil & Gas down by 0.48%, Power down by 0.37% and Metal down by 0.31% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 4.63%, Coal India up by 3.87%, Axis Bank up by 1.59%, Sun Pharma Inds up by 1.29% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.28%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.86%, Vedanta down by 3.10%, Cipla down by 1.61%, ITC down by 1.43% and Tata Power down by 1.30% 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 8415.25, down by 8.00 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8382.50 and 8446.35. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.49%, Coal India up by 3.50%, Grasim Industries up by 2.21%, Axis Bank up by 1.68% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.56%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.18%, Vedanta down by 3.56%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.16%, Yes Bank down by 1.83% and Cipla down by 1.82% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 106.75 points or 1.1% to 9,578.56, Hang Seng decreased 61.33 points or 0.22% to 27,523.72, KOSPI Index decreased 16.73 points or 0.78% to 2,122.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 15.07 points or 0.83% to 1,795.04 and Straits Times decreased 0.07 points or 0% to 3,439.61.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 increased 6.31 points or 0.03% to 20,202.87, Jakarta Composite increased 25.12 points or 0.47% to 5,317.87 and Shanghai Composite increased 83.13 points or 1.87% to 4,529.42.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 51.32 points or 0.43% to 11,797.15, France’s CAC decreased 11.34 points or 0.22% to 5,121.96 while, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.47 points or 0.14% to 7,016.73.