Markets extend losses; Nifty slips below 7450 mark

The Indian equity markets have extended losses to hit fresh intraday lows in late morning session on account of selling frontline blue-chip stocks. Sentiments remained down-beat with the report that India’s merchandise exports contracted for the 15th month in a row in February amid tepid global demand and a volatile global currency market. Exports fell 5.6% in February from a year earlier to $20.73 billion, the slowest decline since December 2014 when shipments fell 3.77%. Besides, weak trend in Asian stocks coupled with depreciation in rupee value also weighed on the sentiment. Market participants remained cautious with the report that Agriculture sector, which provides livelihood to over 50% of the workforce in the country, grew by an average 1.6 per cent per annum in first four years of the ongoing Five Year Plan (2012-17) as against the targeted 4 per cent annual growth due to lower production.

On the global front, Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday as markets waited anxiously for the Federal Reserve to provide guidance on the risk of US rate hikes this year. Sentiments remained subdued after the Bank of Japan painted a gloomier view of the world's third-largest economy. Meanwhile, US markets made a mixed closing in last session, as traders were cautious ahead of Thursday’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Back home, stocks from FMCG and IT counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables, Auto and Metal counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of RPP Infra Projects have surged after the company bagged an order worth Rs 30.90 crore from Karnataka State Police Housing & Infrastructure Development Corporation. Furthermore, Allcargo Logistics has gained on the company’s plan to set up a logistics park in Jhajjar district, in the state of Haryana, to cater to the growing container traffic in the northern parts of the country.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2218 stocks traded, 846 stocks advanced, while 1239 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24423.91, down by 127.26 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 24407.29 and 24565.30. There were 5 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.02%, while Small cap index down by 0.47%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.44%, IT up by 0.07% while, Consumer Durables down by 2.28%, Auto down by 1.14%, Metal down by 1.11%, Oil & Gas down by 0.58%, PSU down by 0.48% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.61%, BHEL up by 0.66%, Infosys up by 0.66%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.26% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.10%, Asian Paints down by 1.95%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.92%, Tata Motors down by 1.91% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the average annual growth rate of agriculture and allied sector during the first four years of the ongoing Five year plan (2012-17), grew by an average 1.6 percent per annum, as against the 12th plan target of 4 per cent per annum.

Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundariya, attributed the low average growth rate of farm sector to set back in the annual crop production except for 2013-14 due to deficiency in the monsoon rainfall, moisture stress and unfavourable weather, temperature conditions adversely impacting production of Kharif and rabi crops.

However, the minister highlighting government’s initiatives has said that the government has taken several steps in order to increase investment in agriculture sector, such as enhanced institutional credit to farmers, promotion of scientific warehousing infrastructure for increasing shelf life of agriculture produce, setting up of agri-tech infrastructure fund for making farming competitive and profitable, developing commercial organic farming. In the fiscal year 2014-15, investment in terms of Gross Capital Formation (GCF) in agriculture and allied sector stood at Rs 2,56,495 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7427.05, down by 33.55 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 7422.30 and 7470.40. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 1.71%, Bank of Baroda up by 0.98%, BPCL up by 0.92%, BHEL up by 0.66% and Ambuja Cement up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.40%, Vedanta down by 2.67%, Sun Pharma down by 2.09%, Asian Paints down by 1.90% and Tata Motors down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, KOSPI Index was up by 0.09%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 0.08%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.14% and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was down by 0.68%, Hang Seng down by 0.39% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.13%.