Benchmarks extend losses; CD, Auto, Realty decline

Indian benchmarks have extended their losses in late morning session due to sustained selling by funds amid a weak trend in Asian regions. Sentiments got dampened due to high retail inflation at 10.91 percent in February. Investors have remained cautious ahead of the WPI inflation data coming in tomorrow and the Reserve Bank of India's policy meet on March 19. On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the negative terrain as some investors locked in profits from the markets’ recent rally. Japanese Nikkei also declined by over quarter of a percent after Yen edged slightly higher as investors weighed reports that Japan’s main opposition party will vote against one of the government’s nominations for deputy governor of the country’s central bank.

Back home, the traders were seen piling up positions in FMCG, while selling was seen in Consumer Durables, Auto and IT sector. In scrip specific development, BPCL, HPCL and IOC edged lower as US crude oil futures traded near the highest level in 2 weeks after an industry report showed crude stockpiles fell for the first time in a month in the US, the world’s biggest oil user.

In scrip specific actions, State-owned lender United Bank of India gained as the bank received approval from shareholders for preferential allotment of upto 1.37 crore equity shares to the Government of India at issue price of Rs 72.95 a share. Shares of Tata Motors slipped after the JLR posted lower-than-expected retail volumes for February 2013. JLR posted lower-than-expected retail volumes for February 2013 primarily due to a sharp 23 per cent YoY decline in volumes in China following festival season in February which resulted in lower working days. NALCO dropped as an inter-ministerial committee disinvestment is scheduled to meet tomorrow to decide on sale price. Kennametal India tumbled after the company stated that its US-based parent-promoter plans to cut stake in the company from the current 88.61% to comply with the SEBI norms on minimum public share holding requirements via offer-for-sale (OFS) route.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading just above their psychological 5850 and 19400 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was showing negative trend with advances to declines in ratio of 788: 1311.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19446.23, down by 118.69 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 19511.97 and 19425.86. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.55% and Small cap index was down by 0.53%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables down by 1.29%, Auto down by 1.17%, IT down by 1.10%, Bankex down by 1.00% and  Teck down by 0.94% and while FMCG up by 0.29% was the sole gainer on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 0.92%, ITC up by 0.62%, RIL up by 0.42%, Coal India up by 0.25% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.22%.

On the flip side, Hindalco Industries was down by 2.91%, Infosys was down by 2.02%, Tata Motors was down by 1.74%, Jindal Steel was down by 1.69% and  ICICI Bank was down by 1.68% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, considering the 2.4 percent rise in Indian industrial output numbers of January, the Government hopes that the prevailing economic slowdown might be bottoming out. The Government has hoped that macro-economic indicators would move up in the coming months. In a pleasant surprise, India's annual industrial output growth measured by index of industrial production (IIP) grew by 2.4% at 181.8 for the month of January 2013. The numbers were way above the expectations of the 1% growth figure. The cumulative growth for the period April-December 2012-13 over the corresponding period of the previous year stood at 1%. 

On the recently published January IIP data, Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma has said that IIP figure is encouraging and we feel the economic downturn is bottoming out, but we have to do more, both on exports and industrial manufacturing. Moreover, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said 'The turnaround is good. I would not call it strong growth but it does bear out that the economy has bottomed out. I would hope that subsequent months will show more robust growth”. 

However, the economic growth rate fell to a decade low of 4.5 percent in October-December quarter. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has projected India's economic growth at an alarmingly low 5% in 2012-13, the worst in 10 years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,874.15 down by 39.95 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 5,888.45 and 5,869.05. There were 9 stocks advancing against 40 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 0.97%, HCL Tech up by 0.74%, ITC up by 0.47%, Power Grid up by 0.41% and Ranbaxy up by 0.34%.

On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.92%, Jindal Steel down by 2.09%, Infosys down by 2.04%, Tata Motors down by 1.97% and ICICI Bank down by 1.75% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 26.41 points or 1.16% to 2,260.19, Hang Seng declined 187.65 points or 0.82% to 22,702.95, Jakarta Composite slipped 14.22 points or 0.29% to 4,840.09, KLSE Composite dropped 9.33 points or 0.56% to 1,647.21, Nikkei 225 dipped 43.93 points or 0.36% to 12,270.88 and Straits Times contracted 22.99 points or 0.69% to 3,280.79.

On the flip side, KOSPI Composite increased 5.28 points or 0.26% to 1,999.01 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 13.14 points or 0.16% to 8,007.85.