Weak trade persists in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from weak global counterparts. Investors failed to draw solace from ‘Global Macro Outlook 2016-17’ report by Moody’s Investors Service which forecasted Indian economy to grow 7.5% in the current and next year, enlightening that the expansion is primarily driven by rising consumption and sustained improvement in private investment was needed to maintain the momentum. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Auto and Metal stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Capital Goods and Bankex sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Torrent Power tumbled after the company stated that its net profit plunged 95.38% Y-o-Y to Rs 17.06 crore for the quarter ended March 31. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 369.43 crore in the same quarter of previous year. Unitech was trading in red as BSE and NSE will drop the company from the Futures & Options segment with effect from July 29.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets traded on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,850 and 25,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1103:1273 while 180 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25557.37, down by 147.24 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 25494.82 and 25714.56. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red and green; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.28%, while Small cap index up by 0.04%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.97%, Auto up by 0.24%, Metal up by 0.14%, IT up by 0.05% while, FMCG down by 1.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.94%, Bankex down by 0.63%, PSU down by 0.58%, Consumer Durables down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Lupin up by 1.87%, Tata Motors up by 1.82%, BHEL up by 1.25%, Tata Steel up by 1.12% and Wipro up by 0.77%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.45%, SBI down by 2.44%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 2.38%, GAIL India down by 1.86% and HDFC down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with the global crude oil prices rising to six-month high, the finance ministry is considering reducing the excise duty on petrol and diesel to cushion inflation.  Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said that the reduction will be there depending upon the international market. He added that “There could be downward revision also. The duty hike may have given good collections, but we cannot allow inflation to go out of hand. We have to be careful about inflation”

Furthermore, Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the government has passed 60% of the benefit of fall in crude oil prices to consumers while the remaining 40% is being utilised for infrastructure development. However, the observation made by the the 12th report submitted on May 3 by the standing committee on petroleum & natural gas does not match Pradhan’s claim.

The committee observed that the retail prices of petrol and diesel in the country have not been reduced to the extent of the reduction in international prices as a result of increase in central and state taxes’ component on petroleum products. Last time the government raised excise duty on petrol and diesel was on February. The duty on petrol has been raised by Re 1 per litre, while that on diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7829.75, down by 40.40 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 7806.30 and 7876.20. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.01%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 1.71%, Lupin up by 1.54%, BPCL up by 1.53% and BHEL up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 2.59%, ITC down by 2.45%, SBI down by 2.39%, GAIL India down by 2.07% and HDFC down by 1.92% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 132.08 points or 0.67% to 19,694.33, Taiwan Weighted decreased 63.7 points or 0.78% to 8,095.98, Jakarta Composite decreased 39.03 points or 0.82% to 4,695.33, KOSPI Index decreased 9.95 points or 0.51% to 1,946.78, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.51 points or 0.15% to 1,633.21 and Shanghai Composite decreased 0.61 points or 0.02% to 2,806.91.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 increased 1.97 points or 0.01% to 16,646.66.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 77.53 points or 1.26% to 6,088.27, Germany’s DAX decreased 125.29 points or 1.26% to 9,817.94 and France’s CAC decreased 26.45 points or 0.61% to 4,292.85.