Indian equity markets continued to languish in the red on sustained selling pressure from several blue chips stocks. Benchmarks were trading in a very narrow range today amid fresh fears about the global economy following some weak data from the US and slowing growth in China. Back home, investors were very quiet and cautious to build up any positions ahead of reporting season. On the sectoral front information technology, FMCG and capital goods stocks were among the prominent losers. Bank, power and automobile stocks were also mostly subdued while few stocks from consumer durables and health care sectors were trading positive. On the global front, US and European markets ended lower overnight and most of the markets in the Asian region are trading weak at present. Back home, the market breadth favoring the negative trend; there were 1,143 shares on the gaining side against 1,175 shares on the losing side while 103 shares remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,988.45, down by 133.17 points or 0.78%. The index has touched a high and a low of 17,045.76 and 16,952.27 respectively. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.
The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined by 0.26% and small cap index rose 0.36%.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were HC up by 0.07% and CD up by 0.05%. On the flip side, CG down by 1.35%, IT down by 1.24%, TECk down by 1.06%, FMCG down by 0.94% and Power down by 0.88% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.19%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.12%, Jindal Steel up by 0.54%, RIL up by 0.35% and DLF up by 0.30%.
On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 1.91%, BHEL down by 1.74%, Infosys down by 1.67%, Cipla down by 1.53% and L&T down by 1.45% were the top losers on the Sensex.
Meanwhile, there are about 500 illegal telecom networks operating in different parts of the country which pose a security threat and are also cause a great loss to the government in terms of revenue, states a report tabled by the Parliamentary panel on telecom. The report further says that 500 is only the number of cases reported, and the actual number can be much higher. The panel has also pulled up the Department of Telecom (DoT) for not maintaining proper data.
The Standing Committee has observed that such networks exist in 16 states and Andhra Pradesh leads the pack by 120 cases. Tamil Nadu has 100 whereas Delhi and Maharashtra have 16 and 54 respectively. The count for Kerala is 31.
The Panel has also pulled up the DoT for its casual attitude in drafting response to the Committee. It has observed that the Department instead of collecting and furnishing the data has reproduced the already known information in vague manner. The panel said that there are urgent steps required to ensure cases of illegal telecom networks mushrooming in the country and are investigated within the stipulated timeframe and the offenders found guilty are penalised.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,154.75, lower by 40.00 points or 0.77%. The index has touched a high and a low of 5,167.90 and 5,139.45 respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 2.43%, Coal India up by 2.10%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.59%, JP Associates up by 0.84% and Jindal Steel up by 0.48%.
On the flip side, RCOM down by 2.07%, Hindalco down by 2.07%, ACC down by 1.94%, BHEL down by 1.90% and Siemens down by 1.83%, were the major losers on the index.
Most of the Asian equities were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite declined by 1.24%, Hang Seng plunged by 1.47%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.21%, Nikkei 225 lowered by 0.67%, Straits Times shed 0.40%, Seoul Composite plummeted 0.85% and Taiwan Weighted slipped by 2.06%.
On the flip side, KLSE Composite up by 0.03% was the sole gainer in the Asian pack.
