Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments remained under pressure after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) marginally lowered India’s growth rate to 7.3% this year from the previous estimation of 7.5% in the July 2015 World Economic Outlook. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables and Metal stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Oil & Gas and Bankex sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Rajesh Exports was trading firm after the company bagged an export order worth Rs 1,360 crore of designer range of gold and diamond studded jewellery and medallions from UAE.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on mixed note, while the European markets were trading mostly on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1128:1443 while 131 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26795.89, down by 239.96 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 26790.17 and 27120.11. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.04%, while Small cap index down by 0.35%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.42% and Metal up by 0.34%, while FMCG down by 1.13%, Oil & Gas down by 1.08%, Bankex down by 0.89%, Capital Goods down by 0.85% and Realty down by 0.76% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.32%, Vedanta up by 1.76%, Tata Steel up by 1.06%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.65% and Tata Motors up by 0.51%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.40%, Reliance Industries down by 2.17%, Axis Bank down by 1.74%, ICICI Bank down by 1.64% and ONGC down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), though has said that India remains one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it has marginally lowered India’s growth rate to 7.3 percent this year from the previous estimation of 7.5 percent in the July 2015 World Economic Outlook (WEO) Update, stating the reason of external environment. IMF elaborating further stated that the external demand has weakened hence Indian exports tends to suffer, which is the negative force pushing down the growth forecast for India.

However, IMF has noted that some of the external factors such as worldwide decline in commodity prices have been beneficial and favorable for commodity importing countries like India. This has resulted in faster-than-expected decline in inflation of the country and has created space for interest-rate reductions. Hence the domestic demand component of growth in India looks resilient and strong. It also expect India’s fiscal situation to improve steadily over the next five years though the country's overall government deficit will still be substantially higher than peers. The 'Fiscal Monitor' released ahead of the Fund's annual meeting shows India's total fiscal deficit, which would include that of the states as well, gliding down to 6.1 per cent of GDP from expected 7.2 per cent of GDP in the current financial year.

Earlier, the fund had cut its global growth forecasts for a second time this year, citing weak commodity prices and a slowdown in China and warned that policies aimed at increasing demand were needed. IMF has forecast that the world economy would grow at 3.1 percent this year and by 3.6 percent in 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8115.85, down by 61.55 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 8111.60 and 8196.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.26%, Adani Ports & Special up by 2.21%, Vedanta up by 1.82%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.80% and Tata Steel up by 1.25%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.66%, Reliance Industries down by 2.17%, Idea Cellular down by 2.04%, ONGC down by 1.92% and ICICI Bank down by 1.77% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on mixed note; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.93 points or 0.17% to 1,692.18, Jakarta Composite increased 4.53 points or 0.1% to 4,491.66, KOSPI Index increased 13.69 points or 0.68% to 2,019.53 and Shanghai Composite increased 90.58 points or 2.97% to 3,143.36.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 decreased 181.81 points or 0.99% to 18,141.17, Hang Seng decreased 160.85 points or 0.71% to 22,354.91, Taiwan Weighted decreased 49.27 points or 0.58% to 8,445.96 and Straits Times decreased 13.74 points or 0.46% to 2,948.07.

The European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.75 points or 0.31% to 6,316.60, France’s CAC decreased 1.74 points or 0.04% to 4,665.60 and Germany’s DAX increased 3.94 points or 0.04% to 9,974.34.