Benchmarks continue weak trade; Bankex, Realty drag

Indian equity benchmarks continued its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip stocks taking cues from weak global counterparts. The sentiments were also under pressure after Moody’s Investors Service stated that India’s fiscal metrics will remain weaker than its peers in the near term even if the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was to stick to the fiscal consolidation roadmap. The global credit rating agency added that the importance of the upcoming Budget 2016 lies in its message on the government’s fiscal consolidation plans. Traders were seen selling in Bankex, Realty and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Cairn India, Punjab National Bank and Vedanta were trading in red on exclusion from the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 index with effect from April 1.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,150 and 23,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 607:1816 while 150 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 23438.48, down by 350.31 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 23392.40 and 23851.51. There were 1 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.36%, while Small cap index down by 1.29%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex down by 2.78%, Realty down by 2.39%, PSU down by 2.08%, Capital Goods down by 1.69%, Oil & Gas down by 1.66%.

The top gainer on the Sensex was Asian Paints up by 0.64%.

On the flip side, SBI down by 3.79%, ICICI Bank down by 3.40%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.83%, Axis Bank down by 2.68% and Coal India down by 2.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, seeking priority sector lending for highways sector given its multiplier effect on economy, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Raghav Chandra in its meeting with RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has urged to relax lending norms for road developers. Chandra has said that they want RBI’s intervention into the trouble points in road sector lending including inclusion of projects lesser than Rs 500 crore in its 5:25 scheme. According to the RBI's priority sector norms, banks have to necessarily provide 40 per cent of their total lending to the sectors so classified.

At present the 5:25 scheme allows banks to extend long-term loans of 20-25 years to match the cash flow of projects, while refinancing them every five or seven years. RBI has extended its flexible refinancing and repayment option for long-term infrastructure projects to existing ones where the total exposure of lenders is more than Rs 500 crore.

Besides, Chandra has also requested to reconsider external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms to allow foreign currency debt to infrastructure sector for medium term also. Moreover, he requested that lending can continue with NPAs besides converting debt into equity if the valuation of equity is done as per SEBI's guidelines.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7126.65, down by 107.90 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 7103.35 and 7241.70. There were 2 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainer on Nifty was Asian Paints up by 0.53%, Tata Steel up by 0.02%.

On the flip side, Cairn India down by 4.78%, Idea Cellular down by 4.02%, SBI down by 3.67%, PNB down by 3.64% and Bank of Baroda down by 3.48% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite decreased 73.26 points or 1.56% to 4,635.36, Nikkei 225 decreased 59 points or 0.37% to 16,052.05, Hang Seng decreased 49.31 points or 0.25% to 19,414.78, Shanghai Composite decreased 23.84 points or 0.81% to 2,903.33 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.14 points or 0.11% to 1,914.22.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.71 points or 0.28% to 1,679.30 and Taiwan Weighted increased 7.96 points or 0.1% to 8,334.64.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 36.99 points or 0.61% to 6,000.74, Germany’s DAX decreased 87.5 points or 0.91% to 9,486.09 and France’s CAC decreased 18.21 points or 0.42% to 4,280.49.