Indian equities continue its downward journey; Realty, CG and Power drags

Indian equities continued its downward journey in the late afternoon session as investors booked profits from blue-chip stocks. Also, India’s Consumer price inflation, similar to the WPI quickened in February to 8.83% on account of higher prices of protein based items and edible oil products, dampened investors’ morale. Traders were seen piling up position in FMCG sector while selling was witnessed in Realty, Capital Goods (CG) and Power sector. Besides, S&P cautioned that India’s budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, would be mildly negative for the unsolicited sovereign credit rating on India (BBB-/Stable/A-3). DLF from Realty sector was trading in red with cut off around more than two and half percent putting pressure on the markets. BHEL and L&T from Capital Goods space was trading weak pulling the markets down. Reliance Power, Tata Power and Power Grid from Power sector were down inching the markets lower. Industry heavyweight RIL was trading weak with cut off around more than two and half percent exerting pressure on the market. RIL was trading weak on reports which showed that the largest gas fields in its KG-D6 block have hit an all-time low production of about 28 million standard cubic meters per day as the firm shut six wells due to water and sand ingress. However, ITC and HUL from FMCG sector was seen trading firm in green giving the much needed support. On the global front, Asian markets were trading on a mix note while the European markets were trading in red on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,300 and 17,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the ratio of 901:1798 while 113 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,286.91 down by 179.29 points or 1.03% after trading as high as 17,561.46 and as low as 17,258.41. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index was slipped 1.06% while Small cap shed 0.99%.

On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG was up by 1.80% was the sole gainers, while Realty down by 2.85%, Capital Goods down by 2.15%, Power down by 2.13%, IT down by 2.00% and Bankex down by 1.99% were the major losers in the space.

ITC up by 3.42%, M&M up by 2.30%, HUL up by 0.79%, Sun Pharma up by 0.79% and Hindalco Industries up by 0.53% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while BHEL down by 4.46%, TCS down by 4.24%, SBI down by 2.64%, Tata Power down by 2.51% and RIL down by 2.47% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, after showing signs of moderation in recent times, India’s consumer price inflation quickened in the month of February as compared to that in January, in line with the trend also shown by wholesale price inflation.  According to the data released by Central Statistics Office, provisional annual inflation rate based on all India general CPI (Combined) for February 2012 on point to point basis (February 2012 over February 2011) came in at 8.83% as compared to  7.65% (final) for the previous month of January 2012.

All India provisional General (all groups) Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers of February 2012 for rural and urban combined was 114.6 against 114 in January 2012, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which released the monthly provisional CPI on Base 2010=100 along with annual inflation rates for February 2012.

The corresponding inflation rates for rural and urban areas came in at 8.36% and 9.45% as against January’s 7.38% and 8.25% which indicated that the growth in rate of price rise in urban areas was at a faster clip than that in the rural areas. Provisional annual inflation rates of February 2012 for rural, urban and combined in respect of ‘food and beverages’ were 6.33%, 7.17% and 6.62% respectively.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,250.80, lower by 67.10 points or 1.26% after trading as high as 5,340.70 and as low as 5,250.65. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were ITC up by 3.12%, M&M up by 2.22%, ACC up by 1.24%, HUL up by 0.91% and ONGC up by 0.81%.

Reliance Infrastructure down by 6.52%, IDFC down by 5.76%, TCS down by 4.71%, BHEL down by 4.68% and JP Associates down by 4.26% were the major losers on the index.

In the Asian space, Shanghai Composite advanced 0.23%, KLSE Composite added 0.09%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.12% and Seoul Composite climbed 0.62%. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite fell 0.20%, Taiwan Weighted shed 0.14%, Hang Seng lost 0.95% and Straits Times dropped 0.52%.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.75%, Germany’s DAX declined 0.55% while Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.47%.