Markets continue to trade weak in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade weak in the early noon deals; though the selling has got arrested but the damage done in early trade is clearly visible with the benchmarks still trading lower by over one and a half percent.  Weakness in the Asian peers and a mixed close on the Wall Street weighed down sentiments as investors remain cautious ahead of the US non-farm payroll data due to be released later today. Back home, sentiment remained dampened with foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) selling shares worth a net Rs 394.31 crore in last session as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, exporters body FIEO has said that the decline in outbound shipments has “pulled down” India's GDP growth in the April-June quarter by over 3 percent.

In scrip specific development, Cipla was trading higher by 0.62% as it is in talks to acquire Hetero Drugs' US business. The deal values the US business at $500-550 million and will give Cipla access to generic drug portfolio and abbreviated new drug application pipeline. Lupin has gained over 0.5% after launching 40 mg variant of Duloxetine delayed-release capsule in the US market.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25303.85, down by 460.93 points or 1.79% after trading in a range of 25193.41 and 25775.38. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.16%, while Small cap index down by 2.61%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 4.33%, Power down by 3.14%, INFRA down by 3.10%, Bankex down by 2.85% and Consumer Durables down by 2.56%, while there were no gainers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 0.78%, Lupin up by 0.64%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.48%, Coal India up by 0.20% and GAIL India up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.08%, Vedanta down by 3.98%, Axis Bank down by 3.81%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.64% and ICICI Bank down by 3.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, corrosion which has a huge economic and environmental impact on virtually all facets of the world’s infrastructure, from highways, bridges, and buildings to oil and gas, chemical processing, water and waste water systems and particularly industrial structures is making a cascading financial impact on the economy and India is losing a staggering Rs 2 lakh crore annually because of corrosion.

The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers which has also been designated as nodal agency to deal with corrosion is going to set up Bureau of Corrosion control in the country as part of National Chemical policy to be announced soon. The Bureau of Corrosion control will help setting up standards for various chemicals, products and machinery to fight corrosion, which is eating up major part of our economy.

Chemicals and Fertilizers Secretary, Surjit K Chaudhary has said that Corrosion has a huge economic and environmental impact on virtually all facets of the world’s infrastructure and highlighted that in addition to causing severe damage and threat to public safety, corrosion especially in coastal states where salt content is high in atmosphere, water, rain and air disrupts operations and requires extensive repair and replacement of failed assets. Corrosion is a serious issue along the long coast line. Almost 3- 4% of our GDP is lost to corrosion.

Chaudhary further stated that India is a resource crunched nation and it needs sustainable and maintenance free Infrastructure that has long span of life, adding that nation cannot afford to allow new infrastructure to corrode and go for frequent repairs. He also said that here government-Industry partnership could be a good solution for sustaining benefits of anti-corrosion technologies being propagated through training and certification programmes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7677.10, down by 145.90 points or 1.87% after trading in a range of 7639.50 and 7804.90. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 0.89%, Lupin up by 0.78%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.65%, Coal India up by 0.35% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.33%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 5.44%, Tata Power down by 5.01%, Vedanta down by 4.33%, Yes Bank down by 4.22% and Tata Motors down by 4.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 390.23 points or 2.15% to 17,792.16, Hang Seng decreased 131.45 points or 0.63% to 20,803.49, Taiwan Weighted decreased 95.35 points or 1.18% to 8,000.60, Straits Times decreased 39.69 points or 1.37% to 2,866.74, KOSPI Index decreased 29.49 points or 1.54% to 1,886.04, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.5 points or 0.41% to 1,596.25, Jakarta Composite decreased 2.24 points or 0.05% to 4,430.87.