Indian equities extend weakness, continue to trade in red

Indian equities extended its weakness continued to trade in red. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red after a good start, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said US policy makers are prepared to act to boost economic growth. Traders were seen piling up position in Metal, IT and Metal sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, Realty, and CG sector. Meanwhile, the markets is likely to be buzzing on the report that on acceptance of recommendations of an advisory committee appointed by SEBI, mutual fund investors will have to shell out more for their investments. There will be lots of important result announcements too. Bajaj Holdings, CRISIL, Kirloskar Brothers are among the many to announce their numbers today. On the home turf, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5,100 and 17,000 levels respectively

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17062.41 down by 42.89 points or 0.25% after trading as high as 1 17147.75 and as low as 17054.80. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index down 0.44% while Small cap index was down 0.29%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Metal up by 0.32%, IT up by 0.27%, while Auto down by 1.21%, Realty down by 0.99%, CG down by 0.95%, CD down by 0.87% and  Power down by 0.47% were the losers on the index.

Tata Power up by 1.62%, Coal India up by 1.50%, ONGC up by 0.81%, Sterlite Inds up by 0.79% and Wipro up by 0.70% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Motors down by 2.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra by 1.78%, BHEL down by 1.70%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.61% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.53% were the major losers in the index.

 Meanwhile, As per latest global consumer confidence findings for the second quarter in 2012 from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, Indian consumer confidence has been reported to have declined four points to 119 as compared to 123 in the first quarter of the current calendar year. In the region, Indonesia reported the highest consumer confidence index in Q2 at 120, topping India’s score of 119.

However, according to the report, globally, India's consumer confidence remains among the highest of all the countries. Though, the report also pointed that no doubt the Indian economy is slowing down a bit and the country is adjusting to that new reality, the nominal GDP growth rates are still the envy of the developing world given the size and scale of the market and that India's consumer confidence remains amongst the highest of the countries tracked in the survey and while Indian consumers are getting more anxious about job prospects, rising inflation and a slowdown in the economy.

In its previous survey, Nielsen had said that Indian consumers continue to be the most confident across the globe for the ninth consecutive quarter and Indian optimism over job prospects in the next twelve months has gone up from 78 percent in the last quarter to 84 percent and continues to top the global index on this scale. But in the latest survey report it was highlighted that that job security (21%) and state of the economy (12%) continue to be the biggest concerns for Indian respondents and bleak job prospects can lead to consumers tightening their purse strings, leading to a vicious cycle that affects the GDP.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,176.75, down by 16.10 points or 0.31% after trading as high as 5,204.20 and as low as 5,173.75. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.93%, Coal India up by 1.52%, Sesa Goa up by 1.32%, STER by 0.94% and ONGC up by 0.86%. While Tata Motors down by 2.48%, JP Associates down by 1.69%, BHEL down by 1.66%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.64% and PNB down by 1.58% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Hang Seng index down by 1.57%, Nikkei 225 down 0.13%, Kospi Composite Index down 1.45%, Strait Times down 0.31%, Taiwan Weighted down 1.14% and Shanghai Composite was down 0.57%.  While Jakarta Composite was up by 0.17% and KLSE Composite added 0.23% were the only gainers in the Asian pack.