Benchmarks trade in red; IT, Realty drag

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, Realty and TECK sector stocks. In scrip specific development, ABG Shipyard tumbled on reports that the promoters of the debt-laden ship-maker may have to give up control of the company after they failed to bring in an investor, yet again. Vietnam-based Masan Group was earlier in talks with ABG Shipyard for a stake sale, but it is now understood that Masan has withdrawn interests in acquiring strategic stake in the company. Multi Commodity Exchange of India was trading in red after it reported a 45 percent fall in standalone net profit during the fourth quarter of 2015-16 fiscal. On the other hand, Diamond Power Infrastructure was locked at upper circuit limit as the company will be meeting on May 16 to consider various debt realignment options, including re-organization of the business, to consider Rs 825 crore proposal from an investor, to offer 51 percent stake to a strategic investor.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets traded on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,750 and 25,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1065:1308 while 151 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25198.05, down by 64.16 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 25057.93 and 25250.06. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.34%, while Small cap index down by 0.03%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.58%, Consumer Durables up by 0.40%, PSU up by 0.30%, FMCG up by 0.29% and Power up by 0.04%, while IT down by 0.74%, Realty down by 0.71%, TECK down by 0.61%, Capital Goods down by 0.44% and Metal down by 0.37% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.84%, Asian Paints up by 1.72%, SBI up by 1.58%, ICICI Bank up by 1.42% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.87%.

On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.93%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.59%, Wipro down by 1.47%, Tata Steel down by 1.39% and ONGC down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in an encouraging development for the ailing aviation industry in the country, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that Indian aviation market grew by 27.4% in March making it the fastest-growing aviation market in the world. However, India accounted for only 1.2 per cent in the overall global domestic traffic.

IATA stated that India market remains the fastest-expanding market, with growth edging up to 27.4% year-on-year, in March. Growth in the Indian domestic market is being propelled by the comparatively strong economic backdrop as well as sizeable increases in services.

IATA, which is an association of 260 airlines comprising 83% of global air traffic, said that India’s growth rate was over six times more than that of the US, which clocked the second-highest growth rate of 4.1%, followed by the Russian Federation at 4.00 percent, China at 3.3 percent and Australia at 2.3 percent. India's domestic capacity in the month under review rose by 21.7 percent, while the demand for international traffic grew significantly more quickly than that for domestic travel.

The agency further said that India’s annual domestic Revenue Passenger Kilometer (RPK) growth rate has now been in double digits for nineteen consecutive months. The combination of such rapid growth in India and slower (even negative) growth in other similarly-sized domestic markets has seen India overtake the others in terms of seasonally adjusted domestic RPKs over the past year or so, most recently Brazil, which it surpassed in March.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7718.80, down by 16.70 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 7678.35 and 7733.60. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 4.91%, Eicher Motors up by 2.46%, Asian Paints up by 1.85%, SBI up by 1.66% and ICICI Bank up by 1.63%.

On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.96%, Wipro down by 1.59%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.49%, Tata Steel down by 1.40% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.36% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 339.95 points or 1.66% to 20,109.87, Shanghai Composite decreased 84.59 points or 2.82% to 2,913.25, Nikkei 225 decreased 40.66 points or 0.25% to 16,106.72, Taiwan Weighted decreased 21.53 points or 0.26% to 8,146.43 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.04 points or 0.06% to 1,644.05.

Indonesia and South Korean stock exchange was closed on account of national holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 23.01 points or 0.38% to 6,094.24, Germany’s DAX decreased 38.11 points or 0.39% to 9,813.75 and France’s CAC decreased 24.5 points or 0.57% to 4,294.96.