Benchmarks continue weak trade

Indian equities continued to trade weak in the late morning session. On the global front, most of the Asian counters were trading in the red at this point of time on concern that stimulus announced by different central banks may not be sufficient to stop the slowing global economic growth. Back home, traders were seen piling up position in Realty, HC and FMCG sector, while selling was witnessed in Metal, CG and TECk sector. DLF, Unitech, HDIL, Oberoi Realty, India bulls Real Estate and Godrej Properties from Realty pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, United Spirits and Godrej Consume Products and Colgate-Palmolive (India) from FMCG pack were seen trading firm in green. Metal majors - Tata Steel, Coal India, Jindal Steel, Hindalco Industries, Sterlite Industries and JSW Steel were capping the markets’ gains while CG majors L&T, BHEL, Pipavav Defence and Thermax too were pressurizing the markets.

Meanwhile, sentiments also remained optimistic after Liquor baron Vijay Mallya-led UB group stocks have been on buyers’ radar after the United Spirits confirmed that they are in talks with Diageo for stake sale. Kingfisher Airlines gained 4% ahead of AGM today.

In the scrip specific development, Pennar Industries jumped on bagging order worth Rs 70 crore. Fiem Industries gained on inking MoU with China-based Company. HSIL edged higher on receiving nod to merge Garden Polymers with itself. Hero Moto Corp rose on launching newly incorporated ‘Hero’ brand in Nepal.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5,650 and 18,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1315:861.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18663.00 down by 31.41 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 18664.97 and 18589.24. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.65% and Small cap index was up by 0.88%.

On the BSE sectoral space, Realty up by 1.91%, HC up by 0.88%, FMCG up by 0.83%, CD up by 0.53% and Auto up by 0.20% were the top gainers. While Metal down by 0.80%, CG down by 0.38%, TECk down by 0.34%, PSU down by 0.25% and Bankex down by 0.20% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.67%, Gail India up by 1.32%, Hero Moto Corp up by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.80% and Sun Pharma up by 0.70%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down by 2.84%, Sterlite Industries down by 1.78%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.59%, Coal India down by 1.38% and Tata Power down by 1.21% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, watering down the speculation of a rate cut, the Reserve Bank of India’s Governor D Subbarao has said that inflation rate is still at unacceptable levels and efforts should be made to rein in prices further to provide relief, especially, to poor people. He said that rising prices, had affected one and all and that it was one of the bank's priorities to contain it.

Subbarao said, 'In the last two years, we have been able to bring down the rate of inflation but I admit that inflation is still high and it should further come down.’  He further said that Rs 5 per litre diesel price hike would raise inflation rate in the short run and might cause inflation but in long term it is good for economy including for inflation.

He also expressed hope that banks would lower their lending rate in response to the recent cut in the CRR and it is a challenge for banks to keep the lending rates low. Last week, Reserve Bank reduced CRR by 0.25 per cent but refrained from reducing lending rates in view of high inflation. The RBI decision released Rs 17,000 crore of primary liquidity into the system, which the apex bank said would ensure adequate flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy. 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,661.10, down by 12.80 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 5,672.80 and 5,643.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ACC up by 3.26%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.15%, JP Associates up by 2.06%, Cipla up by 1.69% and DLF was up by 1.48%. While, , Bharti Airtel down by 2.58%,  Bank Baroda down by 1.64%, Coal India down by 1.59%, Hindalco  Industries down by 1.55% and Sterlite Industries down by 1.53% were the losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red, Shanghai Composite was down by 0.63%, Kospi Composite Index was down by 0.63%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.97%, Hang Seng was down by 0.87%, Nikkei 225 was down by 1.88%, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.65% and Straits Times was down by 0.20%. On the other hand, KLSE Composite was up 0.04% was only the gainer.