Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the late morning session as funds and retail investors engaged in reducing positions, tracking weakness in the global peers. Weakness was also visible in the broader markets with the S&P BSE Mid-cap and the S&P BSE Small-cap indices losing over half a percent each in trade. The traders were also cautious after a Supreme Court-appointed SIT last week suggested the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to come up with regulations on collection of beneficial ownership details of P-note holders, as also for monitoring any unusual rise in stock prices. However, losses remained capped with a report that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pumped in over Rs 8,400 crore in the Indian capital markets so far this month. On global front, Asian stock markets were lower as weak Chinese manufacturing accelerated the sell-off in oil and other commodities. Further, investors were also cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later this week. Back home, Indian rupee depreciated by 4 paise to 64.08 against the dollar in early trade due to month-end dollar demand from importers.

Back on street, all the sectoral indices were trading in the negative territory with BSE Capital Goods index leading the declines, down 1.65% followed by Banking and Auto indices trading lower over a percentage point. In scrip specific development, shares of Sun TV Network have surged after the Delhi High court allowed Red FM to participate in phase-III of the FM radio e-auction. on the other hand, shares of Indian Overseas Bank have dipped after the state-owned bank reported a sharp 95% year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 14.76 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2015, on account of an increase in provisioning for bad loans and lower net interest income.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2302 stocks traded, 975 stocks advanced, while 1243 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27840.44, down by 271.87 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 27773.32 and 28117.65. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.55%, while Small cap index down by 0.55%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods down by 1.65%, Metal down by 1.60%, Bankex down by 1.34%, Auto down by 1.17% and Realty down by 1.15%, while there were no gainers on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 0.98%, Cipla up by 0.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.42% and Wipro up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.75%, Tata Steel down by 2.98%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.48%, Hindalco down by 2.38% and Axis Bank down by 2.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has pointed to fall in global demand, dip in oil prices and appreciation of rupee against euro, as some of the major reasons for decline in India's exports. In June 2015, country’s exports declined by15.82% to $22.28 billion. Merchandise exports from India have been declining continuously for the previous seven months.  In last financial year, India’s share in world trade as per WTO was 2.06%.

Sitharaman further stated that fall in crude oil prices had resulted in consequent decline in prices as well as export realizations for petroleum products, while fall in demand of precious goods like pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, especially from oil producing countries was also one of the main reasons for decline in country’s exports.  

The minister added that European Union (EU) countries that account for nearly 16 per cent of country’s exports were facing problems of stagnation and deflation. The appreciation of the rupee against the euro had adversely impacted India's exports to EU countries. She also highlighted that government was continuously monitoring the export performance of different sectors to different countries and took need based measures from time to time.

In financial year 2015, the maximum exports were from Maharashtra, 23.47 per cent of the country's total exports, followed by Gujarat, 19.2 per cent; Tamil Nadu, 8.85 per cent and Karnataka, 7.61 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8440.20, down by 81.35 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 8423.30 and 8492.20. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.38%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.70%, Grasim Industries up by 0.82%, Cipla up by 0.75% and NTPC up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.48%, Tata Steel down by 3.02%, Cairn India down by 2.89%, HCL Tech down by 2.76% and Hindalco down by 2.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng was down by 2.8%, Nikkei 225 down by 1.12%, Taiwan Weighted down by 2.22%, Shanghai Composite down by 2.27%, Straits Times down by 0.87%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.78%, KOSPI Index down by 0.03% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.15%.