Markets slump along with the global indices

Markets have extended their slump in late afternoon session with benchmark indices trading near the lows of the day. Though, the economic news from the domestic front are not that bad today, but the market seems to be reacting to the weakness in global economy and the daunting quarterly GDP numbers of yesterday. The European markets after a positive opening have lost their way and were trading lower with cut of over a percent, weighing down the sentiments of the domestic markets. Meanwhile, India’s exports rose by 3.23% to $24.45 billion in the month of April 2012, however imports too rose by 3.83% year-on-year to $37.94 billion. Back on street, only the defensive FMCG sector is holding the ground, while all other gauges are languishing in red with CG, Oil & Gas, Power and IT suffering the most, down by more than 2 percent each.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,014.59, down by 203.94 points or 1.26%. The index has touched a high 16,226.19 and low of 15,997.03 respectively. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth on BSE was in the favor of declines in the ratio of 837:1699, while 117 shares remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index down was down by 1.21% and 0.85% respectively.

On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG up 0.33% was the only gainer, while Oil & Gas down 2.17%, Capital Goods down 2.11%, IT down 1.99%, Power down 1.85% and TECk down 1.80% were losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up 1.17%, Hindalco up 0.39%, Coal India up 0.25% and ICICI Bank up 0.11%.

On the flip side, Jindal Steel down 2.93%, ONGC down 2.56%, Gail India down 2.47%, Maruti Suzuki down 2.33%, and RIL down 2.33% were the major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, credit disbursement to industry grew by 19.5% in April 2012 as against 25.9% in the same month last year, as per data on sectoral deployment published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Credit growth to the industrial sector was led by infrastructure, metals and metal products, engineering, food processing, gems and jewellery, vehicles, vehicle parts and transport equipment and mining and quarrying. It totaled up to Rs 19, 56,070 crore for the month of April.

Credit disbursement to the agricultural sector grew by 14.6% as compared to 12% a year earlier. The total credit outstanding to the agricultural sector was Rs 5,18,620 crore over the month.  For the services sector it increased by 15.8% in April 2012, significantly lower than 24.1% in April 2011.

Bank credit to the non-food sector surged by 16.5% against 22.1% recorded in the previous year. Credit to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) grew by 36.2% in April 2012 as compared to 55.7% in the same month last year. Further, credit given out to the commercial real estate sector rose by 5.8%, down from 21.9% a year earlier and personal loans increased by 11.5% in April 2012 compared with 18.4% in April 2011. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 4,853.85, lower by 70.40 points or 1.43%. The index has touched a high and low of 4,925.00 and 4,849.50 respectively. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ITC up 1.66%, JP Associates up 0.72%, Hindalco up 0.47%, ICICI Bank up 0.21% and Coal India up 0.20%.

On the flip side, Ranbaxy down 4.88%, Asian Paint down 4.69%, HCL Tech down 4.21%, Cairn down 4.19% and IDFC down 4.19% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices continued to reel under pressure; Jakarta Composite down 0.86%, Straits Times Index down 0.82%, KOSPI Composite Index down 0.49%, Taiwan Weighted down 2.68%, Nikkei 225 was down 1.20%, Hang Seng Index down 0.38% and KLSE Composite down by 0.45%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite up 0.05% was the only gainer in the Asian pack.

Most of the European equity indices were trading in red, CAC 40 down by 1.24%, DAX was down by 2.00% and FTSE 100 was down by 0.45%.