Markets slip into red again; broader indices too show sign of fatigue

Markets are continuing their volatile trade, slipping into the red again; selling has intensified in some of the sectoral gauges that are dragging the markets lower. There is not much trigger that could take the markets in either direction and the marketmen are waiting for the European indices opening to take cues, which are likely to get a mildly soft start as indicated by the futures, though the trade at Asian peers remained firm. Back home, the broader indices that were holding their gains since morning, too have started losing strength, while on sectoral front the selling has intensified at Consumer durables and Oil & gas that are leading the losers pack. Realty index continued its upswing and was trading with gains of about a percent. PSU index on the BSE, too was on the recovery path on report that Government was confident of meeting its disinvestment target for 2012-13 and has already identified 10 companies where it plans to offload stake. Meanwhile, the rate sensitives like banking and auto are holding in green, as one of the RBI deputy governors has said that rising rural wages are offsetting inflation pinch.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19394.78, down by 29.32 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 19422.19 and 19391.14. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which thumped declines in the ratio of 1382: 1210, while 131 shares remained unchanged.

The broader indices too have trimmed gains; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index indices were trading up by 0.39% and 0.22% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Reality up by 0.88%, Healthcare up 0.18%, Bankex up by 0.15%, Auto was up by 0.05%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.76%, Metal down by 0.72%, TECk 0.56%  Oil and Gas down by 0.53% and IT down by 0.48 were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 2.06%, Tata Steel was up by 1.18%, Cipla up by 1.15%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.97% and Wipro up by 0.91%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 2.36%, Sterlite Inds down by 1.68%, NTPC down by 1.66%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.41%, and M&M down by 0.99% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a bid to meet the requirements of the new pharmaceutical pricing policy 2012, government is planning to bring a new legislation for price control and monitoring of drugs. The Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO), which is presently mandated under the Essential Commodities Act, would be replaced by specific legislation and the same would be notified soon after the notification of the new policy.

The new policy which brings 348 essential drugs under price control, cleared by government in November 2012, has been tabled in both houses of the Parliament last week. This policy aims to replace the existing drug policy of 1994 which was implemented through Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995 covering over 74 bulk drugs.

The implementation authority for the new policy and the new DPCO, as per the new policy, will be National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA). In order to implement the new policy in an effective, speedy and transparent manner, the NPPA will be provided with required organizational and financial support.

The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2011’s all strengths and dosages will be under price control and the ceiling price will be fixed by adopting the simple average price of all the brands having market share more than and equal to 1% of the total turnover of that medicine.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,898.55, down by 8.85 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 5,916.05 and 5,894.20. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.11%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.02%, %, DLF up by 1.70%, Reliance Infra up by 1.68% and HCL TECH up by 1.28%.

On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 2.58%, IDFC down by 2.34%, TCS down by 2.15%, Cairn India down by 1.64%, and NTPC down by 1.63% were the top losers on the Nifty.

Asian markets were showing mixed trend; Shanghai Composite was up by 1.07%, Hang Seng gained 0.23%, Jakarta Composite was tad higher by 0.01%, KLSE Composite was up by 0.72%, Nikkei 225 gained 0.07% and Straits Times was up by 0.57%.

On the other hand, Seoul Composite was marginally down by 0.03 points and Taiwan Weighted has lost 0.43%.