Benchmarks trades at lowest point of the day

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses and are hovering near the lowest point of the day on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) rate cut by 25 basis points which was in line with market expectations failed to cheer the market. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Metal and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, shares of oil marketing companies like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) were trading firm on hike in petrol and diesel prices. Biocon was trading in green after a foreign brokerage firm upgraded its rating on the stock to overweight from underweight and raised target price, stating that 2016 could be a turning point for the biopharmaceutical company.

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 7,650 and 25,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 713:1647 while 108 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24936.86, down by 462.79 points or 1.82% after trading in a range of 24935.09 and 25372.44. 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 1.38%, while Small cap index down by 1.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.06% while, Bankex down by 2.71%, Metal down by 2.70%, Realty down by 2.40%, Auto down by 2.32%, Capital Goods down by 2.30% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainer on the Sensex was  Lupin up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 5.38%, ICICI Bank down by 4.76%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.43%, SBI down by 4.18% and Tata Motors down by 4.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the private sector investments will show improvement and lead the economy in coming years, thereby reducing the role of government in pushing growth. He is hopeful that in the current year the private sector investment and business environment will improve and that industry will lead the economy rather than government lead the economy.

Furthermore, pinning hopes on various initiatives taken by the government to double farm income in the next five years, Jaitley said this would push up rural demand. On doubling the farm income, he said that hopefully this should lead to increase in rural demand and added that the increased rural demand is going to fill in the holes as far as the economy is concerned.

For global slowdown, Finance Minister said that the direction of decision making does not get reversed because it is extremely important that India fully utilises this opportunity. He said that it’s extremely important that India continues the pace of change in reform so that at a time when growth returns to the rest of the world it will only accelerate the point where the country has reached at the present moment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7622.75, down by 136.05 points or 1.75% after trading in a range of 7621.40 and 7736.30. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 0.76%, BPCL up by 0.56%, Lupin up by 0.24%.

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 5.65%, ICICI Bank down by 4.90%, Hindalco down by 4.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.56% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 4.45% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 390.45 points or 2.42% to 15,732.82, Hang Seng decreased 321.92 points or 1.57% to 20,177.00, KOSPI Index decreased 16.23 points or 0.82% to 1,962.74 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.28 points or 0.25% to 1,720.96.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite increased 12.74 points or 0.26% to 4,862.91 and Shanghai Composite increased 43.54 points or 1.45% to 3,053.07. Taiwan stock exchange was closed today on account of ‘Make-Up Holiday’.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 75.62 points or 1.23% to 6,089.10, Germany’s DAX decreased 225.62 points or 2.3% to 9,596.46 and France’s CAC decreased 80.51 points or 1.85% to 4,264.71.