Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 8300 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session, with the Sensex losing over 150 points and Nifty falling below the 8300 level, weighed down by broad based selling across the bourses in the absence of any fresh triggers. The broader markets were also trading in line with large peers with BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices down by 0.72% and 0.28% respectively. Muted corporate earnings coupled with growing prospects that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates have dampened the sentiments. Meanwhile, traders remain cautious ahead of the May F&O expiry due later during the day. Also, some investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from any buying activity ahead of gross domestic product (GDP) data, which is due on May 29 and RBI’s bi-monthly policy preview, which is due on June 2. Marketmen have largely overlooked the industry body CII’s statement that Indian economy is poised to grow at 9-10% in medium-term. It has said that the indirect tax reform would add 1.5 percentage points to the GDP growth rate.

On global front, Asian stocks were mostly lower as a deadline for Greece to make a debt payment neared and Chinese shares dived after big gains in the past three months. Furthermore, European stocks slipped Thursday, wiping out the previous session’s late rally that was spurred by hopes Greece is close to reaching a deal with its creditors. Back home, Indian rupee snapped the three-day decline against the US currency and made a smart recovery and was up 14 paise to 63.88 on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and after the decline in international crude oil prices.

Back on street, stocks from Oil & Gas counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from infrastructure, Metal and Consumer Durables counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, Shares of Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) dipped after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 519 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015 (Q4) against a net profit of Rs 403 crore in the year-ago quarter. On the flip side, shares of National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) have surged after the company bagged work orders amounting to Rs 378 crore for the construction of medical college campus & upgradation of the government district hospital in Rajasthan.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2063 stocks traded, 903 stocks advanced, while 1067 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27395.64, down by 169.02 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 27354.35 and 27666.37. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.72%, while Small cap index down by 0.28%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Oil & Gas up by 0.17% while, Infrastructure down by 0.88%, Metal down by 0.78%, Bankex down by 0.70%, Consumer Durables down by 0.64% and Capital Goods down by 0.64% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.09%, Vedanta up by 1.77%, Infosys up by 0.72%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.57% and NTPC up by 0.15%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.95%, Tata Power down by 2.11%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.08% and HDFC down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal giving sigh of relief to the stressed power plants has said that the government is looking at seeding a 'power fund' with support from international investors to pick up stressed assets for revival.

The minister further stated that a lot of international investors have shown interest in investing in India and added that a good corpus could be created by roping in international companies and the Centre could acquire the stressed assets in a very attractive manner. He said the fund could pick up stressed power plants and revive them. Goyal has however said that the problems faced by power sector were being exaggerated.

The Minister added that a self-hedging mechanism to allow foreign investors of solar power projects to get dollar tariffs is being worked out. Under the mechanism, distribution utilities quote their price (the rate at which they will buy from the generator) in dollars for 25-year contracts, but the end consumer will be sold the electricity in rupees.

The Minister also indicated that by raising the coal cess four-fold over the last year to Rs 200 per tonne, a huge sum of around Rs 30,500 crore is likely to be generated this year. Proceeds from the coal cess will go to the National Clean Energy Fund. He added that steps were on to augment Coal India production and 60 new mines were on the anvil.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8282.35, down by 52.25 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 8270.15 and 8364.50. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.03%, BPCL up by 1.89%, Vedanta up by 1.88%, Asian Paints up by 0.84% and Infosys up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.01%, HCL Tech. down by 2.75%, Tata Power down by 2.44% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.05%, Hang Seng decreased 2.19%, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.5%, Straits Times decreased 0.23% and Jakarta Composite decreased 0.19%. On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 0.16%, Taiwan Weighted increased 0.2% and Nikkei 225 increased 0.39%.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC down by 0.63%, UK’s FTSE 100 down by 0.21% and Germany’s DAX decreased 0.43%.