Indian equities trim losses but continue to trade in red

Indian equities trimmed losses but continued to trade in red. Asian stocks too slumped after a string of negative global developments dampened investors’ sentiment, including a disappointing US jobs report and weekend comments from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a negative note. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in IT, FMCG and Oil &Gas while selling was witnessed in Metal, Power and CG sector. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,200 and 17,400 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1050:1100 while 93 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,477.47 down by 43.65 points or 0.25% after trading as high as 17,481.51 and as low as 17,412.32. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 0.34% while Small cap index was down 0.13%.

On the BSE sectoral space, IT up by 0.43%, FMCG up by 0.22%, Oil &Gas up by 0.11% and TECk up by 0.09%. While, Metal down by 1.12%, Power down by 0.99%, CG down by 0.96%, CD down by 0.68% and Realty down by 0.65% were the top losers on the index.

TCS up by 1.44%, Gail India up by 0.95%, ICICI Bank up by 0.76%, Tata Motors up by 0.67% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.66% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Jindal Steel down by 1.81%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.70%, HDFC Bank down by 1.48%, Tata Power down by 1.40% and HDFC down by 1.27% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, after Chief Economic Advisor, Kaushik Basu pitching for decontrol of diesel prices partially, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, too has opined that fuel price adjustment has to be made ‘at some point of time’ to get investments back.

While, oil marketing companies are free to determine petrol prices, the diesel, LPG and kerosene are sold at subsidized prices. Industry body CII too, has been asking the government to move swiftly to rationalise the prices of these petroleum products, stating that diesel subsidy is doing more harm than good.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, earlier too has stated that there is need to adjust the diesel price and not impose a tax on diesel cars as petrol is priced more or less the way it should be to the refineries but it has a very high tax on it, while diesel is priced too low, but has much lower taxes. As a result, a lot of people who should buy petrol cars are buying diesel ones. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,296.85, lower by 20.10 points or 0.38% after trading as high as 5,300.60 and as low as 5,281.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were TCS up by 1.27%, GAIL up by 1.04%, DLF up by 0.76%, ICICI Bank by 0.59% and M&M up by 0.58%.Reliance Infra down by 2.35%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.20%, JP Associates down by 2.07%, Jindal Steel down by 1.89% and ACC down by 1.74%were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 1.35%, Hang Seng index down by 1.48 %, Jakarta Composite down 1.38%, KLSE Composite down 0.04%, Nikkei down 1.28%, Strait Times down 1.13%, Kospi Composite Index down 1.29%, and Taiwan Weighted down 0.75%.