Indian Equity markets trade lower; Nifty slips below 8000 level

Indian Equity markets have made a negative start and are trading in red following weak trend across global markets amid possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt. Meanwhile, the session was proving equally weak for broader indices. Sentiment was down-beat on reports that services exports fell by 4.5 percent to $ 13.01 billion in April 2015 as compared $13.63 billion during April 2014. Investors also remained on the sidelines ahead of  a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary committee starting later in the day. Losses remained capped on report that the Commerce and Industry Ministry has initiated an extensive survey on ‘ease of doing business’ in states with an objective to improving the business climate of the country.

In scrip specific development, Biocon was trading higher after Syngene International, research arm of biotechnology major received Securities Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval to launch an initial public offer (IPO).

On the global front, the US markets ended lower as investors fretted over the consequences of a possible debt default by Greece. Asian markets were mostly trading in red on Tuesday tracking a sell-off in global equities, as Greece struggles to find a debt reform compromise with its creditors, fuelling fears of a default and exit from the eurozone.

Back home traders were seen piling position in PSU and Healthcare, while seling was witnessed in Bankex, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Realty and Power. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 626: 988, while 82 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26478.45, down by 108.10 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 26461.49 and 26597.28. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index was lower by 0.31%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.11% and Healthcareup by 0.3%, while Bankex down by 0.67%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46%, Capital Goods down by 0.42%, Realty down by 0.42% and Power down by 0.24% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 0.61%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.61%, Tata Power up by 0.49%, NTPC up by 0.44% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.43%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.66%, ICICI Bank down by 1.34%, BHEL down by 1.11%, Tata Steel down by 0.88% and GAIL India down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving a light of hope to the Public Sector Bank (PSU), the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has promised more capital infusion into public sector banks, saying there's “merit” in their demand for more funds over and above what was provided in the Budget. He further added that 'Banks have made a strong case for additional capital... And over the next few months, this is something the government is going to seriously look at. The Minister also said that banks are free to take decision on tapping the market at an opportune time taking into account the market conditions and stability.

The government has earmarked Rs 7,940 crore in the Budget for recapitalisation of PSU banks for the current fiscal. Last fiscal, the government infused Rs 6,990 crore in nine public sector banks based on their performance.

The issue of additional capital requirement was also flagged by the Reserve Bank in view of mounting bad loans and support growth. RBI Deputy Governor S S Mundra had said the Budget amount marked for recapitalisation of PSU banks is not adequate and RBI has asked the Finance Ministry to raise the quantum of assistance in view of mounting bad loans and support growth.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry is likely to finalise additional capital requirement, over and above budget provision, for public sector banks in the next three months and the exercise of getting representations from individual banks for additional capital requirement would be completed by first week of July.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7978.10, down by 35.80 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 7972.75 and 8010.50. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.11%, Coal India up by 0.66%, Ambuja Cement up by 0.51%, PNB up by 0.50% and Tata Power up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.50%, Idea Cellular down by 1.74%, HDFC down by 1.71%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.61% and Bosch down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets were mostly trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 125.98 points or 0.62% to 20,261.81, Hang Seng decreased 93.52 points or 0.35% to 26,768.29, Shanghai Composite decreased 67.71 points or 1.34% to 4,995.28, Taiwan Weighted decreased 60.7 points or 0.66% to 9,198.78, KOSPI Index decreased 23.87 points or 1.17% to 2,018.45 and Straits Times decreased 18.55 points or 0.56% to 3,304.58.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.04 points or 0% to 1,722.20 and Jakarta Composite increased 19.79 points or 0.41% to 4,857.58.