Benchmarks extend losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extend losses in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters as lower Asian cues ahead of the key US non-farm payroll data weighed on market sentiment. The sentiments remained downbeat after exporters’ body FIEO stated that the decline in outbound shipments has pulled down India’s GDP growth in the April-June quarter by over 3%. The foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 1,573.42 crore yesterday, as per provisional data, also added some selling pressure. Traders were seen selling in Realty, Power and Infra sector stocks. On the global front, the Asian markets traded in red, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,650 and 25,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 373:2127 while 84 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25179.16, down by 585.62 points or 2.27% after trading in a range of 25132.20 and 25775.38. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.47%, while Small cap index down by 2.91%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 4.04%, Power down by 3.52%, INFRA down by 3.33%, Bankex down by 2.96% and Consumer Durables down by 2.83%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.66% and Coal India up by 0.19%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.14%, Vedanta down by 5.05%, Hindalco down by 4.27%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 4.05% and Axis Bank down by 3.95% 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 7642.85, down by 180.15 points or 2.30% after trading in a range of 7627.15 and 7804.90. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 0.95% and Coal India up by 0.39%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 5.93%, Vedanta down by 5.24%, Tata Steel down by 5.22%, NMDC down by 4.62% and Hindalco down by 4.34% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 390.23 points or 2.15% to 17,792.16, Taiwan Weighted decreased 95.35 points or 1.18% to 8,000.60, Hang Seng decreased 94.33 points or 0.45% to 20,840.61, Straits Times decreased 39.27 points or 1.35% to 2,867.16, KOSPI Index decreased 29.49 points or 1.54% to 1,886.04, Jakarta Composite decreased 21.45 points or 0.48% to 4,411.66 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 12.32 points or 0.77% to 1,590.43.
Shanghai Stock Exchange was closed on account of ‘Victory Day’ holiday.

The European market were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 94.69 points or 1.53% to 6,099.41, Germany’s DAX decreased 190.45 points or 1.85% to 10,127.39 and France’s CAC decreased 82.64 points or 1.78% to 4,571.15.