Post Session: Quick Review

Extending their southward journey for third straight session, Indian barometer gauges witnessed blood bath with both the key indices losing over a percent and ending below their crucial 7,250 (Nifty) and 23,800 (Sensex) levels, as fears of a global slowdown led investors to dump risky assets. After a gap-down start the domestic bourses traded in tight band to end near fresh 21 month lows. Sentiments remained down-beat with the report that Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.9 per cent in the fiscal starting April, lower than earlier forecast of 8.1 per cent, due to intensifying global headwinds.

Market participants also failed to draw any sense of relief with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das underscoring the importance of reforms, stating that the 7.6 percent GDP growth is 'significant' amid the global turmoil and there is no need to be 'skeptical'. Meanwhile, the finance ministry said that tax collections stood at Rs 10.66 lakh crore in the first ten months of the current financial year, which was 73.5% of the Budget target of Rs 14.49 lakh crore. However, direct tax collections might slightly fall short of the budget target, but it would be offset by robust indirect tax collections.

On the global front, European markets were trading firmly in early deals, as traders opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks after two sessions of drubbing. However, Asia markets ended in red on concerns over health of the banking sector in the euro zone. Some of the markets like Singapore and Indonesia have re-opened after the Lunar Year holidays.

Closer home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include realty, finance and banking. Sentiments also remained dampened on reports that foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree as they sold net Rs. 681 crore on February 09, 2015 as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Banking and financial shares played spoil sport for Indian equity markets after a horde of public sector banks reported losses in December quarter on account of rising non-performing assets. PNB posted a sharp 93% decline in net profit in the third quarter of the fiscal on account of fresh slippages arising from the steel sector besides higher provisioning requirement as part of RBI norms, while Central Bank’s net loss widened to Rs 837 crore on the back of higher provisions amounting to Rs 1,499 crore.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty tumbled by over eighty points to end below the psychological 7,250 support level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex declined by around two hundred and sixty points to finish below its psychological 23,800 mark. Broader markets too witnessed selling pressure and ended the session with a cut of around a percent.

The market breadth remained in favor of decliners, as there were 665 shares on the gaining side against 1,981 shares on the losing side while 107 shares remain unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex ended at 23758.90, down by 262.08 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 23636.72 and 23938.32. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.95%, while Small cap index down by 1.42%. (Provisional)

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.46%, Finance down by 2.16%, Bankex down by 2.04%, Industrials down by 1.92% and PSU down by 1.66%, while there were no losers on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.13%, Coal India up by 0.91%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.81%, Reliance Industries up by 0.77% and Tata Steel up by 0.30%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 6.95%, SBI down by 4.61%, Cipla down by 3.68%, Adani Ports &Special down by 3.36% and HDFC down by 3.24% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has stated that the government has decided to increase the length of the national highways to 2, 00,000 km, in a way to decongest traffic in the country. Gadkari highlighted that at present, the country has 96,000 km national highways or 52 lakh road length in the country. As much as 40 per cent of the traffic moves on these 2 per cent national highways and as a result accidents take place. Three lakh people got injured and 1.5 lakh are killed in these accidents.

Further he said that, in order to save lives of people and diversify traffic, the government has decided to extend national highways from 96,000 km to two lakh km as nearly 70 per cent to 80 per cent traffic of the country move on this. He said that a formula based on vehicular traffic has been worked out according to which four-lane, six-lane and express highway would be constructed. The Minister further said that in Uttar Pradesh total length of national highways was 8,483 km and in the next two months we have decided to expand this 8,483 km to 17,000 km which is double. He said that two new highways would be developed in UP, first is east-west highway on which we are going to spend Rs 1,400 crore, this will reduce Delhi's traffic by 50 per cent. The second one is from Delhi to Dasna, which would be 14 lane, a first time in the country.

Earlier the minister had stressed upon increasing the number of express highways in the country and said the strength of national highways will be raised to 1.5 lakh km by December. He said that his ministry was aiming at raising the daily road building to 30 km by March end.

The CNX Nifty ended at 7215.70, down by 82.50 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 7177.75 and 7271.85. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.09%, BPCL up by 1.53%, Coal India up by 1.46%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.14% and Power Grid up by 0.99%. On the flip side, PNB down by 8.89%, Cairn India down by 6.16%, Tata Motors down by 6.15%, Bank of Baroda down by 5.95% and SBI down by 4.82% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 surged 63.79 points or 1.13% to 5,695.98, France’s CAC increased 81.6 points or 2.04% to 4,079.14 and Germany’s DAX was up by 181.82 points or 2.05% to 9,061.22.

Asian markets ended in red on Wednesday, as the collapse of oil prices and fresh worries that a new banking crisis could erupt in a fragile global economy added to the risk-off mood. Shares fell across the region despite oil prices seeking some rebound from overnight losses on news that Iran is ready to talk with Saudi Arabia over the current conditions in international oil markets. Japanese shares hit a 15-month low as the dollar slid from the lower 115 yen range to the mid-114 yen zone on concerns over global market volatility and worries over financial institutions in Europe and the US. The markets in South Korea, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.