Markets continue to reel in red, Sensex slips below 24500

Markets continue to sulk in red, with major averages down by over half a percent in the late morning trade. Some recovery attempts in realty and consumer goods were sold off lacking any support from local or global events. While, Nifty has slipped below 7500 mark Sensex too has lost the important psychological 24500 level. Marketmen even overlooked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s assertion that economic growth rate is expected to increase to 7.6 percent in 2015-16. He also said that the government has taken various initiatives to boost the growth of the economy, and industrial growth in particular. Traders remain cautious on faltering global growth after Chinese trade data showed exports falling for an eighth successive month. Additionally, the persistent weakness in rupee too was weighing down the sentiments, the domestic currency extending its decline for the second day was trading lower on sustained demand for the dollar from banks and importers.

Back on street, though selling pressure was visible across the sectors but the most impacted were the metals pack reeling under the Chinese impact. On the other hand some traction was seen in the realty and capital goods counter. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24487.63, down by 171.60 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 24451.60 and 24566.56. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while Small cap index lost 0.43%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.10%, Capital Goods up by 0.56%, Power up by 0.05%, while, Metal down by 2.03%, Consumer Durables down by 0.99%, FMCG down by 0.97%, Bankex down by 0.67% and IT down by 0.67% were the major losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.56%, GAIL India up by 1.54%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.30%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.16% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.01%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.64%, Tata Steel down by 2.24%, ITC down by 2.13%, SBI down by 2.10% and TCS down by 2.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that India’s economic growth is expected to increase to 7.6 percent in 2015-16, indicating that the economic growth has been improving in India. While talking about the position of revival of the Indian economy from the world-wide economic recession as on date, Jaitely said that the government has taken various initiatives to boost the growth of the economy, and industrial growth in particular. The growth rate increased from 6.6 percent in 2013-14 to 7.2 percent in 2014-15 and is estimated to have further increased to 7.6 per cent in 2015-16.

Further Jaitley said that as per the International Monetary Fund, the global output growth remained positive, although it has been projected to have declined from 3.4% in 2014 to 3.1% in 2015. Recently, International Monetary Fund has projected a robust growth rate of 7.3 percent for the country this fiscal, picking up to 7.5 percent next year.

Last month, stressing that India is on a stable and higher footing when compared to other nations, Jaitley said India should emerge out of the global crisis much stronger as it is relatively unexpected by some of the factors that have caused the global crisis. Jaitley stated that even though there is the global slowdown, India has comparatively stood out.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7442.85, down by 42.45 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 7424.30 and 7461.95. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.34%, Yes Bank up by 1.64%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.30%, GAIL India up by 1.26% and Asian Paints up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 5.26%, Hindalco down by 4.09%, Cairn India down by 3.66%, HDFC down by 2.90% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.41% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in red barring KOSPI Index, which was tad higher by 1.63 points or 0.08% to 1,947.75

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slumped by 154.34 points or 0.92% to 16,628.81, Shanghai Composite declined by 73.93 points or 2.55% to 2,827.45, Hang Seng lost 67.06 points or 0.34% to 19,944.52, Taiwan Weighted was down by 50.9 points or 0.59% to 8,613.41, Jakarta Composite lost 20.53 points or 0.42% to 4,811.04 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was lower by 7.59 points or 0.45% to 1,680.27.