Losses turn colossal at Dalal Street with negative start of European counterparts

Losses have turned colossal at Dalal Street as persistent profit-booking by wary investors in backdrop of gloomy global set-up has led to session of underperformance at Indian equity markets which by now appear set for negative close. 30 share index, Sensex, tanking over a century of points, is trading below the 18700 psychological level, while 50 share index, Nifty, too knocking off over half a percent is trading sub 5700 level. Additionally, weakness too has crept in broader space.

Negative European start has mainly pulled bears out of their two days of slumber. Halting their sharp four-session rally, European counterparts slipped as investor’s turning cautious stayed on the edge ahead of European Union leaders meet in Brussels today for the final day of their summit, where they reportedly have agreed to sort out the legalities of setting up a single bank supervisor by the end of the year but so far no clarity on Spain's bailout has been in sight. Additionally, Asian pacific shares too continue to reel under pressure.

Closer home, much of pressure is exerted from stocks belonging to Metal, Power and Realty counters. On the flip side, Consumer Durable is the only counter showcasing significance. Additionally, Telecom shares such as Bharti Airtel are trading downbeat after a panel of ministers on Thursday recommended that the existing GSM operators be charged a one-time fee retrospectively for all second-generation airwaves they hold beyond the 6.2 MHz mark for the tenure of their licences. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which have thumped advances in the ratio of 1344:1258, while 112 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18666.45, down by 125.48 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 18769.59 and 18650.50. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The broader indices too succumbed to profit-booking; the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap indices edged lower by 0.29% and 0.10% respectively.

Broad based selling was witnessed across the BSE sectoral space, however, prominent losers are Metal down by 1.00%, Power down by 0.96%, Realty and Oil & Gas were down by 0.91% and Bankex down by 0.85%. On the flip side, CD up by 0.69% was the sole gainer.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 0.67%, Wipro up by 0.55%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 0.54%, Infosys up by 0.42% and ITC up by 0.21%. On the other hand, Jindal Steel down by 1.82%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.61%, Gail India down by 1.49%, HUL down by 1.44% and Sun Pharma down by 1.31% were the top losers on the Sensex.   

Meanwhile, continuing to shrink for fifth consecutive month, Air passenger traffic dropped by a record 12.4% in September, as exorbitant fares and a slowing economy dented demand. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), only 4.01 million passengers flew in September compared with 4.37 million in the previous month and 4.58 million in the same month last year. Air traffic has been on declining spree since May. It fell 0.87% in May, 3.84% in June and 3.70% in August from the corresponding year-earlier periods. Further, the civil aviation ministry data, showed the total passengers carried by all the domestic airlines in the January-September period declined by a marginal 0.86% at 4.38 million passengers from 4.42 million during the corresponding month of 2011.

On a stand-alone basis, Air India took over Jet Airways (India) in market share, a first in recent times. Air India’s market share was at 19.3% in September while Jet Airways was 18.1%. However, low cost carrier, IndiGo, once again emerged as the market leader, with the airline carrying the highest number of passengers and claiming the largest market share in September. The no-frill airline carried 10.94 lakh passengers and claimed 27.2% market share last month. Meanwhile, market share of SpiceJet was at 18.5%, GoAir at 7.6%, Jet Konnect at 5.7% and finally for the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines stood at 3.5%.

However, the Air passenger traffic figures could further decline since Airfare in India are likely to rise in the winter season, one because domestic flight capacity is down 19% from a year earlier and secondly, on account of arrival of peak travel season that goes on till January. On one hand, Jet Airways and Air India will reduce flights by 10.9% by 6.2% respectively. On the other, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo will increase flights by 8.87%, 14.8% and 30% respectively.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,682.15, down by 36.55 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 5,711.70 and 5,682.15. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 1.23%, Bajaj-Auto and IDFC up by 0.78% Lupin up by 0.66% and Wipro up by 0.56%. While, Jindal Steel down by 1.61%, Reliance Infra down by 1.59%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.59%, Sun Pharma down by 1.42% and GAIL India down by 1.41% were top losers on the index

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in the red; Taiwan Weighted declined 0.76%, Kospi Composite slid 0.78%, Jakarta Composite lost 0.43%, Straits Times skid 0.44% and Shanghai Composite surrendered 0.16%, On the flip side, Hang Seng added 0.17%, KLSE Composite gained 0.20%, Nikkei 225 advanced 0.22%  were the gainers.

European markets too got off to a negative start; with CAC 40 declining 0.06%, FTSE 100 losing 0.12% and DAX sliding by 0.21%.