Indian equities added losses; Nifty below 5,650 level

Indian equities added losses to continue its weak trade in red in the late afternoon session on back of persistent selling in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. Traders were seen piling up position in FMCG, Health Care and Consumer Durables sector while selling was witnessed in Metal, Capital Goods and TECk sector. In the scrip specific development, shares of low-cost air carrier SpiceJet were trading in green on reports that the airline company is in talks with two private equity investors to sell stake in order to raise at least $50 million. Hotel Leela Ventures is trading in green after the company reported that it is planning to add up to 1,500 rooms in the next five years, taking the total to 3,500.

The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the F&O segment from the near month i.e. September 2012 series to next month i.e. October 2012 series. The September 2012 F&O contracts will expire tomorrow i.e. September 27 2012. On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red barring KLSE Composite while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note.  On the home turf, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,650 and 18,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1297:1440 while 129 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,587.81, down by 106.60 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 18,670.48 and 18,573.18. There were 10 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index, while 1 stock remain unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.04% and 0.23% respectively.

On the BSE sectoral space, FMCG up by 0.64%, Health Care up by 0.56% and Consumer Durables up by 0.10% were the only gainers. While Metal down by 1.39%, Capital Goods down by 0.93%, TECk down by 0.85%, PSU down by 0.83% and Realty down by 0.80% were the top losers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 2.73%, ITC up by 0.88%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.76%, Gail India up by 0.73% and Wipro up by 0.60%. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel down by 4.69%, Coal India down by 2.85%, Hindalco Industries down by 2.26%, Tata Motors down by 2.10% and HDFC Bank down by 1.59% were top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, amid strong string of reform measures, which boosted India’s investment appeal globally, the Centre's new Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan opined that GDP might not fall below 5% backing the strong strategy of the government. Previously, Rajan had commented on the possibility of GDP growth to dip below 5% and urged for aggressive reform measures to trigger economic growth.

Rajan noted that the international perception about the country has changed, albeit painful measures it assured government’s capability to lead country further. He pointed that the government’s through these measure is aiming to change the ground reality that the nation is also affected by global economic woes, hence has to bear its outcomes too. Rajan expressed hopes that private sector growth projections which were steeply going down since several months are likely to improve.

The Chief Economic Advisor also confirmed that the nation’s economic situation is nowhere near the balance of payments crisis of 1991, though large fiscal deficits and large current account deficits has to be tackled properly. Also suggested for curtailing misdirected subsidies and including better directed subsidies to effectively manage the budget and trim the burden on central funds. While, his predecessor Kaushik Basu advocated RBI’s important role in reviving growth and pointed out that its inflation-fighting strategy is not working as expected.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,648.55, down by 25.35 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 5,672.80 and 5,638.65. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were ACC up by 3.52%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.72%, Cipla up by 2.69%, Ranbaxy Laboratories up by 1.52% and Gail India up by 0.89%. While, Bharti Airtel down by 4.57%, IDFC down by 3.68%, Coal India down by 2.90%, SAIL down by 2.68% and Hindalco Industries down by 2.38% were top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red, Shanghai Composite plunged 1.24%, Kospi Composite Index declined 0.55%, Taiwan Weighted slid 0.83%, Hang Seng declined 0.83%, Nikkei 225 descended 2.03%, Jakarta Composite lost 1.56% and Straits Times surrendered 0.72%. On the other hand, KLSE Composite was holding up by 0.08%.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 descending 1.74%, Germany’s DAX dropped 1.49% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 declined by 1.07%.