Markets slips into red again; metal and auto drag

Indian markets against the hopes of a relief rally continue to remain flat in the early noon trade on Thursday, slipping once again in red. There was no incremental buying at the lower levels that could support the markets despite losing around 4 percent in last two sessions. Benchmarks were struggling to regain their nearest psychological levels of 26900 (Sensex) and 8150 (Nifty). Traders were concerned with the weakness in rupee, which has once again breached the 64 mark on sustained capital outflows by foreign funds amid appreciation of the dollar against other currencies overseas. Meanwhile, the slew of weak economic reports too kept pressurizing the sentiments, as a RBI sponsored survey stated that the economy is expected to grow at a rate of 7.8 percent in the current fiscal, a shade lower than earlier forecast of 7.9 percent. Also, FDI in India declined by sharp 40 per cent year-on-year to $2.11 billion in March 2015 compared to $3.53 billion in March 2014. Back on street, selling in auto, consumer durables, metal and FMCG continued pressurizing the markets, while some support was coming from IT, tech and oil & gas stocks on weak rupee. Realty stocks that had witnessed sharp plunge in last session on concern of stressed assets, too were witnessing some value buying.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26793.94, down by 43.26 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 26742.15 and 26948.84. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.58%, Capital Goods up by 0.58%, TECK up by 0.52%, Realty up by 0.44% and Oil & Gas up by 0.37%, while Metal down by 1.08%, Auto down by 1.02%, Consumer Durables down by 0.69%, FMCG down by 0.56%, PSU down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.22%, Reliance Industries up by 1.34%, Infosys up by 1.08%, Axis Bank up by 0.89% and SBI up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.61%, ICICI Bank down by 2.38%, Sun Pharma Inds down by 1.85%, Tata Motors down by 1.76% and ONGC down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after a forecast of deficient rains during the Southwest monsoon, the Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal has said that there will be more pressure on the country's thermal power generation plants if the monsoon rains are deficient this year. Though, the minister said that the coal and power ministries were ready with a contingency plan to ensure that there are no power shortages in the country in case of a below normal monsoon.

Goyal added that the two ministries under his charge have been preparing for any eventuality by ensuring adequate availability of coal for generation. He said there is adequate coal at every thermal power plant and we have also kept coal with the pit-heads. Production of coal in the first 61 days of this year is up by 11.8 percent and the government will bump up the thermal generation if Hydel power gets affected.

The minister also said that the government was appealing to states to procure more coal, so that their plants do not shut because of fuel shortage and wherever required, state-run power generator NTPC will be available to produce and supply more power. The current hydro capacity in the country is 41650 Mw.

The power minister said the thermal power plants would need to make up for the deficiency and called upon both public and private sector coal and gas fired power plants. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted 66 per cent chance of deficit monsoon this year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8126.60, down by 8.50 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 8104.90 and 8160.05. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 2.41%, BPCL up by 2.10%, Idea Cellular up by 1.80%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.68% and Bosch up by 1.27%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 3.79%, Tata Steel down by 2.51%, ICICI Bank down by 2.43%, Sun Pharma Inds down by 1.89% and Tata Motors down by 1.79% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were showing a mixed trend; Hang Seng declined by 1.18%, Shanghai Composite slumped by 2.00%, Jakarta Composite lost 0.22%, and Taiwan Weighted was down by 2.18%. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 gained 0.07%, KOSPI Index was up by 0.47% and Straits Times was up by 0.10%.