Indian equities trim losses; Nifty below 5,500 mark

Indian equities trim losses but continue its weak trade below neutral line in the late afternoon session after a 3-day rally as wary investor started booking profit in the frontline counters. Traders were seen piling up positions in Power, Realty and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in Metal, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables sector. Hindalco, Sterlite, Tata Steel, SAIL and Sesa Goa from Metal packs were trading in red exerting pressure on the market. Industry heavyweight RIL is trading weak with cut of around more than three and half percent putting pressure on the market. Also, Gail India, IOC, Petronet LNG and Gujarat State Petronet from Oil & Gas sector were seen trading in red pulling the markets down. However, stocks from the Power Counter kept racing ahead a day after India’s Prime Minister cleared coal supply to private sector power producers. The airline stocks like Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Spice Jet rallied higher after state-owned oil companies have cut jet fuel prices by a marginal Rs 350 per kiloliter, the second reduction in this month. ONGC and BHEL were seen trading in green on reports that an empowered group of ministers has approved the auction route for selling 5 percent stake in state-run oil major ONGC before the end of the current fiscal. However, the proposed disinvestment of government stake in BHEL has, however, postponed to the next fiscal. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets were also trading in red on pessimistic note. Global ratings firm Moody's, warned that it could downgrade the credit ratings of 17 global banks and securities firms due to more fragile funding conditions, increased regulatory burdens and a more difficult operating environment. Also, the second bailout package to Greece will be delayed until after the country holds elections in April 2012, reigniting worries that Europe will struggle to avert its debt debacle. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,450 and 18,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of advances in the ratio of 1415:1390 while 116 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,074.56 down by 127.85 points or 0.70% after trading as high as 18,180.42 and as low as 18,043.32. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a positive note; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.31% while Small cap gained 0.47%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Power up 1.19%, Realty up 0.51%, Capital Goods up 0.38%, IT up 0.33% and TECk up 0.06% were the top gainers while Metal down 1.98%, Oil & Gas down 1.88%, Consumer Durables down 1.30%, Bankex down 0.73% and Auto down 0.58% were the major losers in the space.

Jindal Steel up 4.46%, Maruti Suzuki up 3.39%, BHEL up 2.35%, Tata Power up 2.35% and Cipla up 2.23% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Coal India down 5.20% and Hindalco Industries down 5.14%, Sterlite Industries down 4.45%, Tata Motors down 3.82% and RIL down 3.64% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, oil companies have cut jet fuel prices by a marginal Rs 350 per kilolitre. This is the second reduction this month after the cut of 3% on February 1.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has stated that the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) or jet fuel in Delhi was cut by Rs 350.7 per kilolitre (kl), or 0.5%. The revised prices of ATF would now be Rs 62557.12 per kilolitre in Delhi, Rs 70816.98 in Kolkata (against the current price of Rs 71155.22), Rs 63499 in Mumbai (Rs 63864.31) and Rs 67339 in Chennai (Rs 67702.21).

Jet fuel constitutes about 40% of an airlines' operating cost and the reduction in prices will slightly ease the burden on cash-strapped airlines.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,492.40, lower by 39.55 points or 0.71% after trading as high as 5,522.75 and as low as 5,483.75. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Cairn up 4.63%, Jindal Steel up 4.28%, Maruti Suzuki up 3.66%, Tata Power up 2.58% and BHEL up 2.26%.

Coal India down 5.61%, Hindalco Industries down 5.60%, Sterlite Industries down 4.64%, Tata Motors down 4.34% and Reliance down 3.73% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite slipped 0.42%, Hang Seng declined 0.41%, Jakarta Composite fell 0.76%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.65%, Nikkei 225 shed 0.24%, Straits Times receded 0.81%, Seoul Composite plummeted 1.38% and Taiwan Weighted plunged 1.69%.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 descended 0.93%, Germany’s DAX slipped 1.51% and Britain’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.01%.