Indian equities continue weak trade

Indian equities continued to trade weak in the late morning session. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red with most of the indices trading lower by around a percent in early trade after a Chinese central bank adviser forecasted an economic slowdown and also, as concern renewed that Greece may not meet its bailout targets. Back home, selling was witnessed in Metal, Power and Auto sector. Meanwhile, the telecom stocks too will keep buzzing as the EGoM on telecom, headed by home minister P Chidambaram, is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue of one-time spectrum fee along with final recommendations on minimum price for airwaves. In stock specific action Maruti Suzuki will be watched as the top management of the company will meet the Haryana government to discuss the future of the newly formed workers' union of the violence hit Manesar plant. The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 5100 and 16900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1194:896 while 80 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16998.33 down by 160.11 points or 0.93% after trading as high as 17047.73 and as low as 16977.03. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading on a negative note; the BSE Mid cap index down 0.67% while Small cap index was down 0.27%.

On the BSE sectoral space, there was no gainer on the index  while Metal down by 2.11%, Power down by 1.39%, Auto down by 1.34%, Realty down by 1.30%, and PSU down by 1.15% were the losers on the index.

Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.72%, Tata Power up by 0.70%, and TCS up by 0.12% were the only gainers on the Sensex, while Maruti Suzuki down by 5.22%, Sterlite Industries by 3.38%, Jindal Steel down by 2.40%, Tata Steel down by 2.39% and Hindalco Industries down by 2.34% were the major losers in the index.

Meanwhile, as a part of the bilateral financial enforcement cooperation between the two countries, India and Singapore are going to share a list of suspected tax evaders and cases related to black money, this week. Both the countries will also discuss modalities related to conventions framed by global bodies like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Recently, Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong was on visit to India and a lot of contentious issues were discussed and after that it was decided that a top-level team of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will meet officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Income-Tax department to exchange data on a number of cases of black money that is suspected to be routed from the banking and financial institutions of Singapore.

The Indian authorities are expected to hand over the classified list of some specific cases that they are probing and would also obtain from the Singaporean authorities progress made in other cases, while the Singaporean authorities, would discuss the new measures adopted by the two countries to strengthen the financial enforcement and other related ties.

Singapore has signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in 2005, after which bilateral trade and investment among the two countries increased substantially. An estimated 4,500 Indian companies have set up offices in Singapore to manage global and regional businesses. Singapore is the second largest investor in India and cumulative FDI from Singapore to India has increased from $1.3 billion in 2005-2006 to $17.15 billion in March 2012. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,156.10,downby 49.00 points or 0.94% after trading as high as 5,164.20 and as low as 5,150.10. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were DR Reddy up by 0.79%, Tata Power up by 0.25%, ACC up by 0.25%, Cipla by 0.21% and TCS up by 0.16%. While, Maruti down by 5.40%, Sterlite Inds. down by 3.24%, Sesa Goa down by 2.80%, Tata Steel down by 2.39% and Jindal Steel down by 2.36% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; KLSE Composite down 0.22%, Hang Seng index down  by 2.54%, Kospi Composite Index down  2.25% , Jakarta Composite was down by 1.53%, Nikkei 225 down 1.32%, Straits Times down 0.94%, Taiwan Weighted down  2.35% and Shanghai Composite down 1.15%.