Benchmarks lose further ground; Nifty struggles around 6000 bastion

Benchmarks equity indices have lost further ground on account of persistent profit-booking amidst poor global cues. Hurt by the drag Auto, Information Technology (IT) and Bankex counters, barometer gauges losing steam, continue to languish in red terrain. Hawkish comments from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Duvvuri Subbarao, which have thwarted expectations of interest rate cut beginning this month, mainly weighing heavily on rate sensitive Auto and Bankex counters, has soured the sentiment at D-street, in the week session of trade, 30 share index, Sensex, is trading below its 19950 mark, while 50 share index, Nifty, too declining over quarter points, is struggling around its 6000 bastion. Additionally, broader indices too succumbing to selling pressure has added losses.

On the global front, Asian pacific shares continue to trade downbeat as cautious investors wait for crucial economic data from China later this week, with yen's gains for two days in a row weighing heavily on Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 which so far has registered its largest daily decline in eight months.

Closer home, gains of index heavyweight, Reliance Industries ahead of Q3 results is mainly keeping the momentum positive from Oil & Gas space. Meanwhile, defensive buying in Health Care and Fast Moving Consumer Goods counters, too has capped the further slide of the bourses. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which are outnumbering advances in the ratio of 1591:1004, while 123 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19930.91, down by 55.91 points or 0.28%, after trading in a range of 20009.36 and 19919.57. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices witnessed some additional selling pressure; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading lower by 0.36% and 0.21% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, Healthcare up by 0.46%, Realty up by 0.45%, Consumer Durables up by 0.41% and Fast Moving Consumer Goods up by 0.07%. While, Auto down by 1.19%, TECk down by 0.83%, IT down by 0.78%, Bankex down by 0.71%, and Metal down by 0.48% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were RIL up by 2.43%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.75%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.37%  Bajaj Auto up by 1.17%, and Cipla up by 1.15%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors was down by 2.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.23%, Jindal Steel down by 1.68%, Hindalco Industries down by 1.59% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.47% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in line with firming raw material cost, petrol price was hiked by about 35 paise per litre. As per the revision, petrol will now cost Rs 67.56 per litre in Delhi with effect from midnight January 15. The petrol prices was cut twice in October and November - first by 56 paise and then by 95 paise per litre.

Petrol prices vary from city to city due to differential local sales tax or VAT rates. This is the first revision in rates of petrol, which was deregulated by the government, since November.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,032.40, down by 24.20 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 6,055.95 and 6,030.55. There were 16 stocks advancing against 33 declines on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Reliance up by 2.34%, Dr Reddys Lab up by 1.69%, HCL Tech up by 1.48%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.10% and Cipla up by 1.06%.

On the flip side, JP Associate down by 2.65%, Tata Motors down by 2.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.30% Jindal Steel down by 1.75% and Hindalco Industries down by 1.70%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai declined 0.70%, Hang Seng declined 0.41%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.12%, KLSE Composite down by 0.33%, Nikkei 225 was down by 2.56%, KOSPI Composite decreased 0.32% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.83%. On the flip side, Straits Times up by 0.26%, was the lone gainer amongst Asian pack.