Benchmarks trim losses; trade continues in red

Indian equity markets trimmed losses but continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from result of Greek voters rejecting more austerity demands from creditors. The sentiments were also under pressure after private weather forecaster Skymet has reported that though rains were 16% above normal in month of June, they came down by 10% from the normal in the first week of July. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Metal and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Tilaknagar Industries was locked at upper circuit limit on media reports that Allied Blenders and Distillers is close to acquiring a controlling stake in the company. Kesoram Industries was trading in green on reports that JK Tyre is likely to buy Kesoram’s tyre unit Birla Tyres.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,500 and 28,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1524:1138 while 120 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28004.05, down by 88.74 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 27774.80 and 28033.89. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.34%, while Small cap index up by 0.65%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.45%, Oil & Gas up by 0.37%, PSU up by 0.06% and FMCG up by 0.01% while, Consumer Durables down by 1.26%, Metal down by 1.22%, IT down by 0.54%, TECK down by 0.52% and Capital Goods down by 0.40% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.25%, Cipla up by 2.88%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.32% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.23%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 4.66%, Hindalco down by 1.81%, Tata Steel down by 1.64%, Tata Motors down by 1.35% and ICICI Bank down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, according to the latest World Bank report, India’s economy has crossed the $2-trillion mark in 2014 and currently stands at $2.067 trillion. While it took 60 years to reach $1-trillion mark, in just 7 years it added one trillion to its economy, which has doubled in size since the financial crisis hit the country in 2008. India has been included into the list of world’s fastest growing economies this year, though it is still in the lower middle income category ($1,046-$4,125). It is expected that India will become ‘upper middle income’ country ($4,126-$12,735) in 2026 and will take 2039 to reach the level of High income category.

The numbers were arrived considering the Indian economy’s growth of 7.4% in the current fiscal compared with 6.9% last year based on a new way of calculating gross domestic product (GDP). The World Bank data further showed that India’s Gross National Income (GNI) per person rose to $1,610 (around Rs 1, 01,430 by present exchange rate.) during 2014 from the previous year $1,560. The annual growth rate of India over the last decade was 8.9%.  Gross national income measures the total value added by all citizens of a country, whether in India or abroad.

Talking about other nations, the report said that China, with a per capita GNI of $7,380 and an average annual growth in this parameter of 15.6 per cent, will leave the ‘upper middle income’ category by 2018 to become a ‘high income’ country like the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Japan. Over the last one year itself, four nations crossed over to the lower-middle income category, according to the latest World Bank data.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8464.35, down by 20.55 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 8386.15 and 8472.85. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.12%, Cipla up by 2.88%, BPCL up by 2.67%, ACC up by 1.16% and Ambuja Cement up by 1.03%.

On the flip side, Vedanta down by 4.54%, NMDC down by 2.25%, Hindalco down by 1.90%, Tata Steel down by 1.73% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.70% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 827.83 points or 3.18% to 25,236.28, Nikkei 225 decreased 427.67 points or 2.08% to 20,112.12, Taiwan Weighted decreased 102.27 points or 1.09% to 9,255.96, Jakarta Composite decreased 61.37 points or 1.23% to 4,921.54, KOSPI Index decreased 50.48 points or 2.4% to 2,053.93, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 16.09 points or 0.93% to 1,718.15 and Straits Times decreased 12.95 points or 0.39% to 3,329.78.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite increased 89 points or 2.41% to 3,775.91.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 136.72 points or 1.24% to 10,921.67, France’s CAC decreased 77.67 points or 1.62% to 4,730.55 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 52.1 points or 0.79% to 6,533.68.