Weakness persist in market; Nifty manage to hold 5,550 level

Tracking a weak lead from Asian markets, Indian equity markets continued trading lower amid investors’ sluggish move in the late morning session on Thursday.  Concerns over the government's decision of not withdrawing reform announcements made late last week also contributed to the local markets weakness. The government has also refused to roll back recent hike in fuel prices. The 30-share Sensex regained some lost ground after opening almost 200 points down, while 50-share Nifty managed to hold the 5,550 level amid selling pressure. In the currency market, rupee depreciated to a week’s low level in early deals on Thursday on the back of increased demand from oil importers. On sectoral front Capital goods, realty, metal and power stocks were mostly trading notably lower. Oil, consumer durables and bank stocks were also trading weak. Select TECk, information technology stocks were up in positive territory with smart gains. In global markets, Asian shares extended losses on Thursday after data indicated little respite for Chinese manufacturers, suggesting growth in the world's second-largest economy slowed further in the third quarter. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 971 shares on the gaining side against 1,394 shares on the losing side while 122 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,398.65 down by 97.36 points or 0.53% after touching a high of 18,443.92 and low of 18,291.93. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.45% and Small cap index was down by 0.50%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, TECk up by 0.66%, IT up by 0.59% and Auto up by 0.21%. While, CG down by 1.55%, Power down by 1.12%, Realty down by 1.11%, Metal down by 0.80% and Oil & Gas down by 0.80% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel up by 2.02%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.94%, TCS up by 1.50%, Wipro up by 1.16% and Tata Motors up by 1.15%.

On the flip side, BHEL was down by 3.11%, GAIL was down by 2.45%, HDFC was down by 2.39%, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.06% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.53% were top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, exports from the European Union (EU) to India have reportedly declined 6% to 19.3 billion euro from 20.6 billion euro for January-June 2012 as against the same period last year. However, EU's import pattern was mixed. The largest increases for imports were from Norway 11%, South Korea and the US both 9%.

Indian exports to the 27-member EU, declined by 11% to 18.4 billion euro from 20.6 billion euro in the period January-June 2012 as compared to the same period last year. The largest fall was recorded with India (- 11%) and Japan (- 5%).

On the other hand, EU exports to most of its major clients grew in the same period, excepting India (-6%) and Turkey (-2%). Russia and South Korea both registering 18%, Japan 16% and Brazil 15% were notable increases for exports for the EU.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,568.45, down by 31.60 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 5,581.35 and 5,534.90. There were 17 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index, while two remain unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 2.70%, Jindal Steel up by 1.94%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.88%, TCS up by 1.48% and Tata Motors up by 1.41%.

On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.36%, RNB down by 3.17%, GAIL down by 2.64%, HDFC down by 2.49% and Cairn down by 2.17%, were the major losers on the index.

All Asian indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite down by 1.40%, Hang Seng index down by 0.84%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.45%, KLSE Composite down by 1.25%, Nikkei 225 down by 1.57%, Straits Times down by 0.45%, Kospi Composite Index down by 0.87% and Taiwan Weighted down 0.70%.