Markets continue to trade in red; Sensex slips below 26500

Indian markets are going through a down day of trade amid sluggish global cues and lacking any supportive triggers on domestic front. The weakness that emerged in early hour of trade has lingered to the noon session, while the Nifty continues to trade below the 8000 mark; Sensex too has slipped below the crucial psychological level of 26500.  The mood also turned cautious with mixed trade data, while the Indian trade deficit narrowed to $10.4 billion in May against $11.2 billion in the same month a year ago, but declining for the sixth straight month the country's merchandise exports shrank 20.2 percent to $22.35 billion in May, dragged down by a slump in global demand. Traders were mainly eyeing the global developments with growing possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt and the two days US FOMC crucial meeting on rate hike. Back on street, the losses were lower in magnitude at the broader indices but they too continue to reel in red, while on the sectoral front most of the gauges were in red led by realty, consumer durables and banking.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26499.34, down by 87.21 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 26461.49 and 26597.28. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index lost 0.21%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.15%, IT up by 0.07%, Metal up by 0.05%, TECK up by 0.03% , while Realty down by 0.64%, Consumer Durables down by 0.49%, Bankex down by 0.38%, Capital Goods down by 0.29%, Oil & Gas down by 0.28% were the major losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 1.01%, Tata Power up by 0.97%, Coal India up by 0.85%, Wipro up by 0.56% and Infosys up by 0.46%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.34%, Vedanta down by 1.24%, BHEL down by 1.21% and Tata Steel down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the services sector which contributes about 60 percent to country's gross domestic product, has witnessed a decline of 4.5 percent in its export to $ 13.01 billion in April 2015 as compared to $13.63 billion during April 2014.

As per the RBI data, not only exports but the Import of services during April 2015 too fell to $7.32 billion, down by 9.1 percent against $8.06 billion in the same month a year ago.

Services export in 2014-15 fiscal stood at $167.01 billion, down 4 percent from the year-ago period while imports were at $88.19 billion, up 3.8 percent from 2013-14 fiscal.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, with a view to give proper direction, guidance and encouragement to the Services Sector, has set up an exclusive Export Promotion Council for Services in the name of Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7981.25, down by 32.65 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 7972.75 and 8010.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 1.33%, PNB up by 1.15%, NMDC up by 0.99%, Tata Power up by 0.97% and Coal India up by 0.79%. On the flip side, Cairn India down by 2.48%, Idea Cellular down by 2.28%, HDFC down by 2.05%, Vedanta down by 1.71% and BHEL down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red barring FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI which was marginally up by1.34 points or 0.08% to 1,723.50 and Jakarta Composite which gained19.15 points or 0.4% to 4,856.95.

On the other hand, Hang Seng lost 166.2 points or 0.62% to 26,695.61, Nikkei 225 was down by129.85 points or 0.64% to 20,257.94, Shanghai Composite plunged by 118.04 points or 2.33% to 4,944.96, Taiwan Weighted declined by 46.7 points or 0.5% to 9,212.78, Straits Times was lower by 24.71 points or 0.74% to 3,298.42 and KOSPI Index lost 13.6 points or 0.67% to 2,028.72.