Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip stocks. The sentiments remained under pressure after data showed that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 493.56 crore on Wednesday.  Investors remained cautious ahead of January-March earnings reports amid worries companies continued to suffer due to lacklustre economic growth and weak global demand.  However, losses remained capped with industry body CII terming the GDP calculation methodology an ‘imprecise science’ and pegging the country's economic growth at around 8 per cent for the current fiscal, higher than the RBI's projection of 7.6 per cent. Some support also came with Ratings agency Moody's statement that India's rising foreign direct investment provides stable financing of its current account deficit and is a credit positive, implying that it would count positively towards a ratings upgrade at the time of the review.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green on Thursday after a sharp rise in oil prices whetted risk appetites with even Japanese stocks regaining a little ground despite a rising yen.  Further, European stocks edged higher in early trade, taking their lead from a positive session on Wall Street, after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting highlighted caution over future interest rate hikes. Back home, stocks from PSU, Oil & Gas and Realty counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from Consumer Durables, IT and FMCG counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone.  In scrip specific development, Shares of Nava Bharat Ventures gained after the company signed an agreement with Tata Steel. On the other hand, HDFC declined on the report that the company is planning to make an additional one-time special provision of Rs 450 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2016, to further strengthen its balance sheet.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2515 stocks traded, 1217 stocks advanced, while 1178 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24779.73, down by 120.90 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 24648.21 and 25013.13. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.63%, Oil & Gas up by 0.59%, Realty up by 0.34%, Metal up by 0.18%, Power up by 0.13%, while, Consumer Durables down by 1.44%, IT down by 1.13%, TECK down by 1.07%, FMCG down by 0.90%, Auto down by 0.56% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 4.30%, Lupin up by 1.37%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.32%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.28% and Coal India up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.93%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.58%, HDFC down by 2.37%, Infosys down by 1.84% and ITC down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, In order to increase exports and raise its contribution to the country’s economic growth, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sithamaram has said that her Ministry will pitch for priority sector status for export credit. Priority sector status obliges banks to lend a specified share to the sector. Sithamaram has said that her Ministry will take up the grievances of various sectors such as gems & jewellery, marine and engineering individually, and also take it up with the ministries concerned.

The Minister further said “The Prime Minister is keen that the government is constantly engaged with the export sector to ensure that their problems are sorted out expeditiously. To ensure consistent high rates of economic growth, possibly closer to 10 per cent, we need exports sector also do to well” and added that her Ministry will hold interactions with Indian High Commissions and Embassies along with their commercial and economic wings to make them more vibrant and understand requirements of exporters.

The poor run of the Indian trade continued for the 15th month in a row, with exports dipping 5.66 percent in February to $20738.60 million, against $21983.43 million in February 2015 due to contraction in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods amid tepid global demand. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-February 2015-16 was $238418.11 million, down by 16.73 percent as against $286305.92 million over same period last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7582.30, down by 32.05 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 7542.15 and 7630.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BHEL up by 4.57%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.67%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.56%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.45% and Lupin up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.01%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.91%, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.50%, HDFC down by 2.49% and ITC down by 1.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index rose 0.13%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 0.11%, Nikkei 225 added 0.22% and Hang Seng was up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite declined by 0.08%, Shanghai Composite decreased 1.38% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.27%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC was up by 0.55%, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.47% and Germany’s DAX rose 0.59%.