Benchmarks continue weak trade; FMCG, Realty drag

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Investors maintained a cautious approach ahead of Gross Domestic Product growth data scheduled on Friday. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, Infra and Auto stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Realty and Capital Goods sectors stocks. In scrip specific development, ITC was trading in red after the country’s largest cigarette maker reported lower-than-expected earnings as higher taxes on smokes and a government push to discourage tobacco consumption hurt business. 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 8,400 and 27,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1065:1415 while 107 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27685.58, down by 271.92 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 27624.58 and 27903.29. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.06%, while Small cap index down by 0.11%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.29%, INFRA up by 0.19%, Auto up by 0.10% and PSU up by 0.02% while, FMCG down by 1.47%, Metal down by 1.41%, Capital Goods down by 0.91%, IT down by 0.60% and Bankex down by 0.55% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.71%, ONGC up by 1.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.43% and Wipro up by 0.26%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.76%, HDFC down by 2.63%, Vedanta down by 2.29%, Tata Steel down by 2.12% and Cipla down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, differing from its peer ASSOCHAM, industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) commenting on the completion of the one year of the Modi government has said that there has been no big-bang investments in the first year and issues on ease of doing business still need to be addressed.

CII President Sumit Mazumder has however said that “I would much rather see the government do a slow and gradual growth, scaled up gradually where all the structural issues are in place. How long it will take is difficult to tell, but based on my discussions with various people, we should definitely start seeing results by the third or fourth quarter of this year”.

Mazumder termed as “ambitious” the government’s aim of notching up the country’s ranking to 50 on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index and said “I really want to see that red tape to red carpet happen. I don’t just want it to be statement. So that the application forms, inspectors, rigour that one has to go through to set up an industry is addressed, along with digitization of forms so that everything is quick”. He added that ease of doing business, until that is addressed, there is a great deal of reluctance because historically foreign investors have come here, tried for 3-4 years and gone back disenchanted.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8384.30, down by 74.65 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 8369.75 and 8441.95. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 2.12%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.06%, ONGC up by 1.78%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.73% and HCL Tech up by 1.61%.

On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 3.56%, ITC down by 2.92%, HDFC down by 2.73%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.34% and Vedanta down by 2.21% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 6.37 points or 0.07% to 9,645.17, Straits Times increased 12.4 points or 0.36% to 3,462.58, Nikkei 225 increased 149.36 points or 0.74% to 20,413.77 and Shanghai Composite increased 156.2 points or 3.35% to 4,813.80.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite decreased 27.59 points or 0.52% to 5,287.56 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 22.01 points or 1.23% to 1,765.49.

South Korea and Hong Kong markets were closed on account of ‘Buddha’s Birthday’ holiday.

On the European front, France’s CAC decreased 38.81 points or 0.75% to 5,104.08 while, Germany’s market was closed on account of ‘Whit Monday’ holiday and UK’s market was closed on account ‘Late May Bank’ holiday.