Benchmarks trade near intra-day low levels in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade near intra-day low levels on account of selling in front line blue chip stocks amid weak cues from Japan and volatility in overnight trades on Wall Street. 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. Also, the weak earnings of PSU banking stocks too weighed on the sentiments, three state-run lenders - Central Bank of India, Dena Bank and Allahabad Bank - reported massive losses and the spillover effects were seen on the other banking stocks too. Furthermore, 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. On the global front, Asian markets were trading 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. Japanese shares lost further ground with the Nikkei down by over three percent, while Singapore's Straits Times was down by over two percent. Meanwhile, US stocks finished Tuesday's volatile session little changed as a rally in materials was offset by losses in the energy sector fuelled by a fresh drop in oil prices amid a global stock sell-off.

Back home, barring IT index which gained 0.03%, all the other indices were in the negative, with Realty, Metal and PSU indices being significant losers. In scrip specific development, Shares of Prestige Estates have declined after the company reported 35% drop in standalone profit at Rs 65 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 compared to Rs 100 crore for the same quarter ended December 2014. On the other hand, shares of Britannia Industries gained after the company posted robust profits for the quarter ended December 2015. The company’s Net profit for the quarter ended December 2015 surged by 52% to Rs 208 crore compared to Rs 137 crore in the same quarter in the previous fiscal.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2084 stocks traded, 391 stocks advanced, while 1606 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23766.14, down by 254.84 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 23743.79 and 23938.32. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.32%, while Small cap index down by 1.33%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was IT up by 0.03%, while Realty down by 3.54%, Metal down by 2.18%, PSU down by 1.94%, Bankex down by 1.80% and Auto down by 1.52% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 0.51%, Reliance Industries up by 0.36% and Sun Pharma up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.25%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 3.23%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.88%, Tata Steel down by 2.72% and ICICI Bank down by 2.65% were the top losers.

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 is currently trading at 7227.35, down by 70.85 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 7213.50 and 7271.85. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 1.49%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.59%, Infosys up by 0.56%, Reliance Industries up by 0.54% and Sun Pharma up by 0.32%. On the flip side, PNB down by 5.30%, Bank of Baroda down by 4.51%, Hindalco down by 3.86%, Vedanta down by 3.80% and Cairn India down by 3.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red, Nikkei 225 was down by 3.84%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down by 0.73%, Straits Times down by 2.11% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.52%.