Markets at day’s low; metal and capital goods major losers

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses and trading at low point of the day following weak Asian cues and also expecting weak opening of US markets today due to disappointing payroll data that released last Thursday. Investors were not making any strong position ahead of fourth quarter earnings season and Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy on April 17. On the sectoral front, banking stocks declined after deposit growth fell short of RBI's projections in the last fiscal year. Metal, capital goods and power stocks were mostly trading notably lower, while only healthcare sector was finding modest support. However, Reliance Industries was hit by yet one more analyst downgrade. On the global front, weakness continues in the Asian shares. Back home, the market breadth favoring the negative trend; there were 991 shares on the gaining side against 1,421 shares on the losing side while 98 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,260.10, down by 225.92 points or 1.29%. The index has touched a high and low of 17,407.66 and 17,248.23 respectively. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

Weakness could be sensed across broader space too; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 0.99% and 0.37% respectively.

Metal down by 2.58%, CG down by 2.49%, Power down by 1.98%, Bankex down by 1.58% and Oil and Gas down by 1.50% were the top losers on the index. While, HC up 0.12% was the only gainer on the BSE sectoral chart.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HUL up by 0.68%, DLF up by 0.56%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.53%, Cipla up 0.28% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.26%.

On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.87%, BHEL down by 3.38%, Jindal Steel down by 3.06%, Sterlite Industries down by 2.98% and L&T down by 2.70% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India plans to increase its share in the global foreign direct investments (FDI) from 1.3% in 2007 to 5% by 2017. According to a report by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), India has already emerged as a preferred investment destination and the government is keen that this be maintained. The DIPP has proposed that policies be streamlined for attracting investments.

Experts are of the view that for India to emerge as a preferred destination for setting up manufacturing units, it is important that major economic reforms like FDI in multi-brand retail be implemented on time. Such steps will improve the investment climate in the country.

India has received FDI worth $26.19 billion during April-January of last fiscal, an increase of 53% over the same period of previous year. To further boost FDI into the country, the government is actively considering allowing foreign airlines to pick up 49% stake in the domestic carriers. Also, consensus on the issue of allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retail sector is underway.

Towards further liberalizing FDI regime, the government has allowed overseas investment in bee-keeping and share-pledging for raising external debt. The conditions for FDI in respect of construction of old-age homes and educational institutions were also eased. The government also aims to encourage IPRs by streamlining the procedure of filing, examining and granting of intellectual property rights.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,245.55, lower by 77.35 points or 1.45%. The index has touched a high and low of 5,287.90 and 5,243.75 respectively. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 declining ones on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 3.11%, Dr Reddy’s up by 1.24%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.03%, HUL up by 0.78% and Cipla up by 0.46%.

On the flip side, IDFC down by 4.07%, JP Associates down by 4.07%, Hindalco Industries down by 4.06%, BHEL down by 3.62% and Reliance Infra down by 3.42% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite slid 0.63%, Jakarta Composite trimmed 0.35%, KLSE Composite slot 0.29%, Nikkei 225 plunged 1.47%, Straits Times dipped by 0.82%, Seoul Composite plummeted 1.52% and Taiwan Weighted plunged by 1.37%.

Markets in Hong Kong remained closed on Monday on account Easter holiday.