Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments were dampened as the country’s services sector activity contracted for the first time in 13 months in May, largely due to decline in new order flows amid competitive pressure and natural disasters. Investors also maintained cautious approach on reports that the monsoon, which accounts for nearly 70% of India’s rainfall, has been delayed yet again. Traders were seen selling in Realty, FMCG and Consumer Durables sectors stocks. In scrip specific development, Nestle India was trading in red amid growing concerns about safety standards of its popular Maggi noodles. Samples of Maggi noodles taken in the National Capital were found unsafe for consumption during tests by the Delhi government, which decided to initiate a case against the company.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 461:2130 while 77 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26831.60, down by 356.78 points or 1.31% after trading in a range of 26698.26 and 27276.22. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.96%, while Small cap index down by 2.53%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 6.30%, FMCG down by 3.47%, Consumer Durables down by 2.74%, INFRA down by 2.21% and Power down by 2.03%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 0.89%, NTPC up by 0.80%, Infosys up by 0.42% and TCS up by 0.39%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 4.34%, Vedanta down by 3.52%, SBI down by 3.25%, ICICI Bank down by 3.13% and Tata Motors down by 2.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while pushing for currency notes to be made in India from scratch, has made a case for greater use of plastic currency. He stated that 'The developed world has moved substantially to plastic currency and payment gateways. I think there is need for India and our determination is there to gradually take steps to move in that direction.'

To popularize the use of plastic money, the government had launched the RuPay debit card in 2012 through the National Payments Corp of India (NPCI). The card enables electronic payments at all banks and financial institutions, competing with international card providers like MasterCard, Visa and American Express.

Jaitley further stated that 'It's about time that we start at least printing our own currency with our own ink and paper. It is not merely symbolism. It also represents a thought process where there is a desire to bring back Indian manufacturing at a particular level.' Finance minister while inaugurating a paper-making line for bank notes at Hoshangabad and dispatching a consignment for printing Rs 1,000-denominated currency notes to the state-run security press at Nashik in Maharashtra, stressed that development of new facilities at Hoshangabad and Mysore would help in reducing reliance on imports for printing of currency notes.

Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha too advocated the cause and said there are 30 billion bank notes that are printed in India today and with the indigenous currency paper we should also aim to meet the global needs. He added that since India is moving quickly towards a cashless economy, the RBI will be soon issuing licences on Payments Bank. He said a cashless economy can facilitate volumes of transactions through a variety of institutions -- telecom operators or postal service-- and do transactions at a tremendously low cost.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8130.95, down by 105.50 points or 1.28% after trading in a range of 8094.15 and 8236.70. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 1.24%, NTPC up by 0.94%, Idea Cellular up by 0.49%, TCS up by 0.47% and Infosys up by 0.40%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 4.38%, Bosch down by 3.62%, Vedanta down by 3.54%, Cairn India down by 3.48% and SBI down by 3.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the red; Nikkei 225 decreased 0.34%, KOSPI Index decreased 0.74%, Jakarta Composite decreased 1.56%, Shanghai Composite decreased 0.01% and Taiwan Weighted decreased 0.60%.

On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 0.69%, Strait Times increased by 0.29% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.35%.

European Markets were trading in the green; Germany's DAX rose 0.39%, UK's FTSE gained 0.01% and France's CAC was up by 0.10%.