Benchmarks extend losses; Health Care, IT 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 on weak trend in the Asian region after overnight fall on the US markets. Market participants have remained cautious over domestic political instability and ahead of the derivatives expiry at the end of the session. Domestic investors are eyeing  the October-December current account and balance of payments data due later in the day. The RBI has said CAD will play a factor in monetary policy decisions. On the global front, Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red at this point of time, as weak euro zone data, a sluggish debt auction in Italy and fears of a potential run on Cyprus banks stoked investors' concerns about instability in Europe.

Back home, the traders were seen piling up positions in Health Care, IT and PSU, while selling was seen in Auto, Realty and Oil & Gas sector. In scrip specific actions, HCL Technologies surged on report that the company has won an over $100 million multi-year infrastructure services management contract from automaker Ford Motor Company. IndusInd Bank, NMDC gained ahead of entry in CNX Nifty. GMR Infra dropped after divesting coal-mining assets in South Africa. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading just above their psychological 5600 and 18,500 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was showing negative trend with advances to declines in ratio of 750: 1079.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18584.42, down by 120.11 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 18708.22 and 18568.43. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.36% and Small cap index was down by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Health Care up by 0.47%, IT up by 0.32% and  PSU up by 0.24%while, Auto down by 1.56%,  Realty down by 1.51%, Oil & Gas down by 0.80%, Bankex down by 0.60% and Consumer Durables down by 0.49% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 2.05%, Gail India up by 1.61%, ONGC up by 1.19%, Coal India up by 0.76% and Sterlite Industries up by 0.66%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 2.67%, Tata Motors was down by 2.45%, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.41%, RIL was down by 1.74% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.71% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, to strengthen the ties between the two nations, Japan has granted a $2.32 billion aid for infrastructure building in India, with both countries agreeing to promote bilateral strategic and global partnership especially in the areas of economy and security. The loan package consists of four projects, including a freight railway project connecting New Delhi and Mumbai, and a subway construction project in southern India. The money will specifically contribute to the building of India’s planned subway project in its financial capital Mumbai.

Apart from the grant, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also approved a loan to the Indian government amounting to $753.17 million for the subway project in Mumbai. The two leaders also agreed to further advance cooperation on a future high-speed railway project and to promote negotiations on a bilateral nuclear energy pact as part of civilian nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,608.45 down by 33.15 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 5,647.80 and 5,604.85. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Lupin up by 2.05%, HCL Tech up by 1.90%, GAIL up by 1.55%, IDFC up by 1.54% and Hindalco up by 1.42%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.97%, Cairn down by 2.83%, DLF down by 2.69%, Tata Motors down by 2.52%, and Bharti Airtel down by 2.36% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 60.66 points or 2.64% to 2,240.60, Hang Seng declined 244.52 points or 1.09% to 22,220.30, Jakarta Composite dipped 23.69 points or 0.48% to 4,904.41, Nikkei 225 dropped 177.95 points or 1.42% to 12,315.84, Straits Times decreased 2.26 points or 0.07% to 3,310.77, KOSPI Composite slipped 3.13 points or 0.16% to 1,990.31 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 42.42 points or 0.54% to 7,851.70.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up by 3.24 points or 0.19% to 1,670.81.