Markets lose traction, slips into red

Markets have lost traction in the early noon trade, with profit booking surfacing not only the high beta but broader indices too. Though, the benchmark indices were trading flat with negative bias but they have slipped from the highs reached in early trade. Market was consolidation after last session’s big gains and traders seem to be taking cautious stance on bets the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates as soon as next month. The early gains were contributed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement, expressing confidence of over eight per cent growth rate in the current fiscal year and saying that the Indian economy will boost further with the government taking all effective measures in the financial sector. Back on street, despite the choppiness, healthy buying was being seen in healthcare, consumer durables and realty stocks. However, FMCG, banking and auto along with metal sectors were witnessing selling pressure. IT sector that looked in jubilant mood in early trade, too has pared most of its gains. The US-headquartered Cognizant Technology Solutions, beating street estimates reported a 6% sequential growth in revenues for the June quarter and also raised its annual guidance. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28194.85, down by 28.23 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 28163.69 and 28314.40. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.20%, while Small cap index lost 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.13%, Capital Goods up by 0.55%, Realty up by 0.36%, TECK up by 0.10%, Oil & Gas up by 0.07%, while FMCG down by 1.31%, Auto down by 0.34%, Metal down by 0.32%, Bankex down by 0.22%, INFRA down by 0.13% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.37%, Lupin up by 1.72%, TCS up by 0.85%, ONGC up by 0.69% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.67%. On the flip side, ITC down by 2.08%, Coal India down by 1.31%, ICICI Bank down by 0.92%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.76% and Wipro down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar has said that Public sector undertakings (PSUs) in pharmaceuticals sector will not to be sold in future; instead a model will be developed for utilizing their assets in order to make them financially sustainable. The Minister said that a Task Force will be set up soon to look into all these aspects and pharma PSUs will get support from government in order to enhance the efficiency and productivity of products.   

The minister further said that providing affordable and good quality medicines to masses of the country is important where PSUs play an important role as they are not driven by profit motive but serve public interest. For the sake of health security, Ministry is working with other concerned Departments of the Government of India and the State Governments as Team India.

There are about five PSUs in pharma sector, which includes Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals (KAPL), Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (RDPL), Hindustan Antibiotics (HAL), Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (BCPL) and Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals (IDPL). Out of these KAPL and RDPL were making profits, while HAL, BCPL and IDPL were declared sick by Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), hence the government is working on various schemes for their revival.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8561.10, down by 6.85 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 8551.80 and 8590.50. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.44% and Idea Cellular up by 2.05% and ACC up by 1.68% and BPCL up by 1.66% and Lupin up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.66%, ITC down by 2.12%, Coal India down by 1.36%, Asian Paints down by 1.25% and ICICI Bank down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, barring the Japanese Nikkei 225, which was up by 50.38 points or 0.24% to 20,664.44.

On the other hand, Hang Seng lost 155.45 points or 0.63% to 24,358.71, Taiwan Weighted declined by 92.71 points or 1.09% to 8,449.56, Shanghai Composite was lower by 37.22 points or 1.01% to 3,657.35, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by18 points or 1.04% to 1,707.56, KOSPI Index declined by 16.47 points or 0.81% to 2,013.29, Jakarta Composite lost 16.15 points or 0.33% to 4,834.38 and Straits Times was down by 5.43 points or 0.17% to 3,185.96.