Weak trade continues in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters taking cues from weak global counterparts. The sentiments were under pressure despite Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan stated that India’s growth is picking up further with more animal spirit and good monsoon and public investment picking up pace. Investors maintained cautious stance ahead of industrial production data for April which is scheduled to be released tomorrow. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas, PSU and Metal stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and FMCG sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Dr Reddy's Laboratories was trading in red on reports that the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has sought civil penalty against the drug maker for alleged violation of provisions related to child resistant packaging. Lovable Lingerie was trading in green following Reliance Mutual Fund’s purchase of shares in the women’s inner-wear maker from open market yesterday.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,250 and 26,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1201:1211 while 182 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26797.11, down by 223.55 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 26783.43 and 26994.91. There were 15 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index up by 0.21%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.67%, PSU up by 1.31%, Metal up by 1.24%, Power up by 0.75% and Consumer Durables up by 0.39%, while IT down by 2.33%, TECK down by 1.87%, FMCG down by 1.29%, Auto down by 0.38% and Bankex down by 0.21% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 2.71%, Reliance Industries up by 2.32%, NTPC up by 1.86%, Cipla up by 1.72% and GAIL India up by 0.79%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.33%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.17%, ITC down by 2.05%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.03% and HDFC down by 1.73% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil Research in its latest report has said that a normal monsoon this year will help put a tap on food inflation and in turn offset rising pressures from crude oil prices and sticky services inflation. According to the report, inflation would therefore average five per cent in fiscal 2017.

The report further said that an above-normal monsoon this year will augment groundwater and reservoir levels and in turn increase crop production.  However, the rating agency warned that India is upbeat about robust monsoon reports but the country should tackle the structural issues in water usage. 

The report said that the sensitivity of crops to rainfall signals the need for improvement in irrigation facilities, change in cropping patterns, harnessing of rainwater, and adoption of water conservation techniques and availability of stable electricity.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8217.65, down by 55.40 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 8211.25 and 8273.35. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.80%, Reliance Industries up by 2.33%, BPCL up by 2.18%, Hindalco up by 2.10% and Cipla up by 1.82%.

On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.29%, ITC down by 2.33%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.32%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.26% and HDFC down by 1.98% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 162.51 points or 0.97% to 16,668.41, Jakarta Composite decreased 26.52 points or 0.54% to 4,889.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.03 points or 0.36% to 1,651.82 and KOSPI Index decreased 2.91 points or 0.14% to 2,024.17.

Shanghai Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Taiwan Stock Exchange were closed today on account of holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 55.32 points or 0.88% to 6,246.20, Germany’s DAX decreased 138.32 points or 1.35% to 10,078.71 and France’s CAC decreased 49.58 points or 1.11% to 4,399.15.