Markets enlarge their losses; Sensex slips below 27800

Indian markets have enlarged their losses going towards the mid of the session, with the benchmark indices already losing their crucial psychological levels of 27800 (Sensex) and 8400 (Nifty). The global rout was taking its toll on the local markets too, with no any supportive cues in sight. The intensified selling has engulfed the whole market and metal and commodity stocks were suffering sharp cuts tailing the slump in the international market. Commodities in global markets suffered their worst rout in seven months as a steep selloff in China’s stock reflected broader economic weakness, even after the Chinese government announced new measures including allowing insurance companies to invest more assets in stocks and a scheme to buy the shares of smaller companies. Investors rushed out of commodity markets in response, cutting back holdings of energy, metals and grains. On the domestic front there was no support from any corner and traders were looking cautious not only with the global development but also about the corporate profit growth, as the first quarter earnings kick starts tomorrow with TCS numbers. The global rating agency Crisil expects India Inc results for the quarter ended June 2015, to disappoint as soft commodity prices, weak growth in investment-linked sectors and subdued rural demand restrict earnings. Back on street, the broader indices were going neck-in-neck to the benchmarks, while none of the sectoral indices was in green, with laggards being led by metal, auto, bank and realty.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27723.13, down by 448.56 points or 1.59% after trading in a range of 27716.68 and 28031.45. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.71%, while Small cap index lost 1.37%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 4.58%, Auto down by 2.30%, INFRA down by 1.98%, Bankex down by 1.83%, Realty down by 1.80%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 11.10%, Hindalco down by 7.13%, Tata Motors down by 6.33%, Tata Steel down by 4.20% and BHEL down by 3.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in World Bank Group's latest report 'The State of Social Safety Nets 2015' has ranked India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to almost 15 percent of the country’s population.

Apart from MNREGA, India's Mid-day meal scheme has been classified as biggest school feeding programme benefiting 105 million beneficiaries, while the World Bank ranked the Janani Suraksha Yojna with 78 million beneficiaries as the top-most social security programme with conditional cash transfers. Also, it ranked the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme as the second-largest unconditional cash transfer social security progamme in the world.

The report further stated that India is among the five middle-income countries running the world's largest social safety net programmes. It added that these largest social safety net programmes are all in middle-income countries China, India, South Africa and Ethiopia and reach over 526 million people. According to the report, the combined spending on social safety nets in 120 developing countries amounted to about $329 billion between 2010 and 2014.

The report though highlighted that a growing number of developing countries are investing in social safety nets to improve the lives and livelihoods of billions of poor and vulnerable people, yet around 55 percent of the world’s poor or 773 million people with acute needs still lack safety net coverage. Adding that it said three quarters of the poorest people in low-and lower-middle income countries, and more than one-third of the poorest people in middle-income countries, lack safety net coverage and remain at risk. It also said that the safety net programmes must be more efficient and effective to close the coverage gap.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8369.80, down by 141.00 points or 1.66% after trading in a range of 8369.40 and 8457.50. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The two gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.36%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 11.04%, Hindalco down by 7.28%, Tata Motors down by 6.04%, Cairn India down by 5.90% and Yes Bank down by 5.63% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were deep in red, Hang Seng slumped by 1097.7 points or 4.4% to 23,877.61, Nikkei 225 lost 568.62 points or 2.79% to 19,807.97, Taiwan Weighted declined by 274.05 points or 2.96% to 8,976.11, Shanghai Composite was lower by 173.47 points or 4.65% to 3,553.65, Straits Times lost 34.1 points or 1.02% to 3,306.83,  KOSPI Index was down by 24.08 points or 1.18% to 2,016.21, Jakarta Composite decreased by 16.08 points or 0.33% to 4,889.97 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by 13.69 points or 0.8% to 1,698.61.