Benchmarks magnify early losses; trade at intra-day low level

Indian equity benchmarks extended early losses and reached at their intra-day low level in the early noon session amid selling was witnessed in financials and auto stocks. Further, weak trend in other Asian markets also weighed on the sentiments after China's  PMI data, a closely-watched barometer of manufacturing activity, slipped to 48.2 in December from 48.6 in November, shrinking for the tenth straight month. Besides, India's December Nikkei Manufacturing PMI has come in at 49.1 vs 50.3 in November, lowest since August 2013, too dampened the markets. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, after China factory activity contracted and the yuan weakened, while oil prices jumped as much as 3 percent on rising tensions in the Middle East. Back home, both the sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 25,800 and 7,850 levels, respectively with a cut of one and half a percent in early noon deal. In scrip specific development, share of Royal Orchid Hotels was trading over 7%, extending its 20% surge in past two trading sessions on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after SBI Mutual Fund has sold its entire 8.44% stake in the company through open market. Ashok Leyland was trading higher after the company posted a growth of 31 per cent in December sales.   

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25754.75, down by 406.15 points or 1.55% after trading in a range of 25732.53 and 26116.52. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.83%, while Small cap index down by 0.77%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex down by 2.18%, TECK down by 1.21%, Auto down by 1.17%, PSU down by 1.06% and Capital Goods down by 0.96%, while there were no gainers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 0.27%, NTPC up by 0.21%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.20%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.17% and Tata Steel up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 3.58%, Tata Motors down by 3.47%, HDFC down by 2.62%, ICICI Bank down by 2.62% and Axis Bank down by 2.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has raised excise duty on petrol and diesel, the second increase in duties in just over two weeks, to mop up a little less than Rs 4,400 crore. The duty on petrol has been raised by 37 paise per litre, while that on diesel is up a steeper Rs 2 per litre. The increase in excise duty will fetch the government over Rs 4,300 crore on diesel and about Rs 80 crore on petrol. Hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel, three times in quick succession, will help the government garner an additional Rs 10,000 crore in the fiscal and partly make up for the shortfall in disinvestment receipts and direct tax collections.

As per the notification of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the total levy on unbranded petrol will be Rs 19.73 per litre as against Rs 19.36 currently, after including additional and special excise duty. On unbranded or normal diesel, total excise duty after including special excise duty will be Rs 13.83 per litre as compared to Rs 11.83 currently. Basic excise duty on unbranded or normal petrol has been increased from Rs 7.36 per litre to Rs 7.73 and the same on unbranded diesel from Rs 5.83 to Rs 7.83 per litre.

The three excise duty hikes this fiscal, totalling Rs 2.27 per litre on petrol and Rs 3.47 a litre on diesel, will yield the government Rs 10,000 crore in additional revenue during the remainder of current fiscal. Earlier, in December, government had raised excise duty on petrol by 30 paise litre and on diesel by Rs 1.17 a litre.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7837.20, down by 126.00 points or 1.58% after trading in a range of 7829.55 and 7937.55. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cairn India up by 2.45%, Power Grid up by 0.89%, Asian Paints up by 0.45%, HCL Tech up by 0.37% and Wipro up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 4.61%, Bank Of Baroda down by 4.06%, Tata Motors down by 3.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.49% and HDFC down by 2.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 628.4 points or 2.87% to 21,286.00, Nikkei 225 decreased 606.75 points or 3.19% to 18,426.96, Shanghai Composite decreased 242.52 points or 6.85% to 3,296.66, Taiwan Weighted decreased 223.8 points or 2.68% to 8,114.26, KOSPI Index decreased 39.16 points or 2% to 1,922.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 20.52 points or 1.21% to 1,671.99 and Jakarta Composite decreased 13.84 points or 0.3% to 4,579.16.