Weak trade persist in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets added losses to continue its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments on the street took a hit after Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that the country’s exports may not be able to reach even the last year’s level of about $306 billion, and the trade deficit is likely to widen between $193-196 billion in the current fiscal. Traders were seen selling in Consumer Durables, Realty and Oil & Gas sector stock. In scrip specific development, SAIL was trading in red after touching its four-year low after the company launched its one-day offer-for-sale (OFS). NHPC was trading under pressure after 19 cases of alleged corruption and irregularities in the company’s projects were reported. DTH service provider Dish TV was trading in green on reports that the company would increase pack prices by 10%. The price hike will be effective from April 4, 2013.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,650 and 18,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 777:1912 while 117 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,698.61, down by 94.26 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 18,838.94 and 18,669.20. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.93% and Small cap index was down by 1.39%.

There were no gainers on sectoral front while, Consumer Durables down by 2.58%, Realty down by 1.90%, Oil & Gas down by 1.13%, TECK down by 0.92% and Information Technology (IT) down by 0.91% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 3.52%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.51%, Tata Power up by 1.43%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.30% and Jindal Steel up by 0.94%.

On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.47%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.78%, SBI down by 1.77%, Tata Steel down by 1.76% and ONGC down by 1.49% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a big setback to road ministry, the planning commission and finance ministry have stalled the road ministry's proposal, which was aimed at easing the financing woes of road developers.  The highways ministry has sought the Cabinet Committee on Investment's (CCI) nod to allow infrastructure developers to sell their entire stake in completed highway project, which will help them to bring in fresh equity into projects that have been under pressure to achieve financial closure.   

Currently, road projects allotted after 2009 can offload 74% of their stake only after two years of commercial operations, while projects awarded before that can sell 67% stake three years after commercial operations begin. The ministry also wants to dispose of these lock-in periods. 

As per the road ministry, the funding crunch in the sector has dampened progress on new projects and there are about 36 projects facing financial closure issues. The government has set the ambitious 8800 km road project target for this financial year, while, the road ministry has achieved only one-tenth of it. Earlier, the roads ministry has sent multiple suggestions to the finance ministry on ways to ease the fund crunch in the sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,640.70, down by 18.05 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 5,676.80 and 5,631.80. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 declines while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were IDFC up by 3.73%, Bank of Baroda up by 3.32%, Ambuja Cement up by 3.23%, Bajaj Auto up by 3.22%, and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.72%.

On the flip side, DLF down by 3.95%, Ranbaxy down by 2.67%, Tata Motors down by 2.56%, Tata Steel down by 2.01% and JP Associates down by 1.96% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red, Hang Seng declined by 0.50%, Jakarta Composite decreased 1.36%, Nikkei 225 was down by 2.35%, Straits Times declined 0.13%, KOSPI Composite fell by 0.11%, Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.20% and KLSE Composite was trading lower by 0.15%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite up by 0.17% was the sole gainer. 

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.45%, Germany’s DAX descended 0.45% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.18%.