Indian equities continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equities continued its weak trade in the late afternoon session on back of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from subdued European counterparts. The sentiments in the market were dampen on weak macroeconomic data, as the September month’s IIP figure witnessed contraction of 0.4% at 163.6 for the month of September 2012 coupled with other disappointing data like consumer price inflation, which inched up and trade deficit which widened in October 2012. Traders were seen piling position in Bankex, Consumer Durables and IT sectors while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Metal and Capital Goods sectors. In the scrip specific development, United Spirits is flying high after CLSA upgraded the company to buy from sell, stating that the company’s deal with global spirits major Diageo to sell a majority stake would be a game changer. India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland is trading in green as Bank of America - Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to buy with a revised target of Rs 32. The market will remain open tomorrow on Diwali day i.e. November 13, 2012 for the ‘muhurat’ trading session which will be conducted for 75 minutes on both the leading bourses NSE and BSE. The trading would be conducted between 3.45 pm and 5 pm on that day.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. Greek lawmakers approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget, an essential step in Greece’s efforts to persuade its international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan installment without which the country will go bankrupt. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,700 and 18,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1193:1450 while 115 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,656.57 down by 27.11 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 18,750.92 and 18,607.66. There were 10 stocks advancing against 28 declines while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices continued to keep their head above the water; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading higher by 0.33% and 0.15% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.82%, Consumer Durables up by 0.79%, IT up by 0.49%, TECk up by 0.42% and FMCG up by 0.31%. While, Oil &Gas down 0.66%, Metal down by 0.64%, Capital Goods down by 0.57%, Auto down 0.41% and Power down by 0.27% were top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.67%, SBI up by 1.47%, HDFC Bank up by 1.34%, TCS up by 0.72% and Infosys up by 0.38%.

On the flip side, Tata Power down by 1.63%, Tata Steel down by 1.60%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.36%, ITC down by 1.27% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.00% were top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the relentless decline in Indian Exports has extended to the sixth month in a row dropping, 1.63 per cent in October 2012 due to persistent economic turmoil in the US and European markets. Commerce Secretary S R Rao said that “The world trade is continuously contracting. Our integration with the world trade has increased so any ripple worldwide will impact India's trade.'

India’s exports during October, 2012 stood at $ 23246.91 million, against $ 23632.02 million during October, 2011. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-October 2012 -13 was $166922.57 million as against $ 177915.69 million, registering a  de-growth of 6.18 per cent in Dollar terms over the same period last year.

On the other hand imports during October, 2012 were valued at $ 44208.35 million growing by 7.37 per cent over $ 41175.06 million in October, 2011, mainly due to a jump in imports of petroleum and gold. However, cumulative value of imports for the period April-October, 2012-13 was $ 277135.48 million, as against $ 284721.27 million, down by 2.66 per cent in Dollar terms.

Oil imports in October increased by 31.6% year- on-year, valued at $ 14785.3 million compared to oil imports of $ 11234.3 million in the corresponding period last year.  Oil imports during April-October, 2012-13 were higher by 9.99 per cent to $95569.0 million against $ 86887.7 million in the corresponding period last year. However, Non-oil imports during October, 2012 were estimated at $ 29423.1 million, down by 1.73 per cent compared to $29940.8 million in October, 2011. Non-oil imports during April - October, 2012-13 were lower by 8.22 per cent at $ 181566.5 million against imports valued at $ 197833.6 million in April - October, 2011-12.

The trade deficit for October increased by $3418.4 million or 19.49 per cent to $ (-) 20961.44 millions from $ (-) 17543.04 million in October 2011. For the period April - October, 2012-13 trade deficits was estimated at $ 110212.91 million which was higher by 3.19 per cent than the deficit of $106805.58 million during April -October, 2011-12.

The latest data has raised the worries of government and has prompted to consider fresh incentives for the industry. Commerce secretary S R Rao said that the directorate general of foreign trade will conclude its detailed analysis of various export sectors in the next two days which will be presented to the commerce minister. 'We will then see if there is a need to fine-tune this year's foreign trade policy or whether specific steps need to be taken to improve export performance.' 

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,679.85, down by 6.40 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 5,718.90 and 5,665.75. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 1.92%, SBI up by 1.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.38%, HDFC Bank up by 1.35% and JP Associates up by 1.15%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 2.37%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.84%, Ranbaxy down by 1.82%, Tata Power down by 1.63% and Tata Steel down by 1.59% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red, barring, Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng which were trading higher by 0.49% and 0.21% respectively. While Strait Times declined by 0.10%, Kospi Composite down by 0.19%, Jakarta Composite declined by 0.19%, KLSE Composite down by 0.21%, Nikkei 225 plunged 0.93% and Taiwan Weighted slid 0.35%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note with, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.17%, Germany’s DAX added 0.19% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 ascended 0.23%.