Markets continue weak trade ahead of expiry of domestic derivatives

Following Asian markets losses, Indian equity markets continued trading lower in the late morning session, amid rampant selling, on the last day of week and quarter. The 50-share Nifty touched its lowest intraday level since November 23, 2012 breaking its 200-day moving average, while Sensex touched its lowest intraday level since November 26, 2012. Investors were trading cautiously awaiting October-December current account and balance of payments data due later in the day, which will be the major factor in monetary policy decisions. Markets will remain volatile ahead of the expiry of domestic derivatives at the end of the session. In currency markets, rupee erased some early losses and trading flat in negative territory amid increasing dollar demand from importers. On the sectoral front, rate-sensitive shares belonging to auto and bank sectors were trading deep in red. Power, FMCG and oil stocks too were mostly down in negative territory. A few blue chips from metal, information technology and healthcare sectors were up with strong gains.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly lower affected by a feeble euro zone data, a slow debt auction in Italy, worries over the potential run on Cyprus's banks. Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 1,054 shares on the gaining side against 1,168 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,635.83, down by 68.70 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 18,708.22 and 18,568.43. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.12% and Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Health Care up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.95%, PSU up 0.70%, IT up 0.60% and Capital Goods up by 0.39%, while Auto down by 1.38%, Realty down by 1.09%, Bankex down by 0.43%, Power down by 0.29% and FMCG down by 0.08% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 2.90%, Gail India up by 2.65%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.58%, ONGC up by 1.95% and Coal India up by 1.56%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 2.31%, Tata Motors was down by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 2.02% and Jindal Steel was down by 1.52% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government has approved 6 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals amounting to Rs 732.77 crore, including Air Asia Investment, Malaysia. Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on March 6, 2013, the government has approved the six proposals of FDI.

Among the approved proposals are, AirAsia Investment, Malaysia’s proposal worth Rs 80.98 crore to set up a Joint Venture company to undertake the business of operation of scheduled passenger airlines. While, the biggest proposal that was cleared was that of Hyderabad -based Navayuga Road Projects plan to act as an investing company and to make downstream investments in its special purpose companies worth of Rs 357.60 crore. The government also cleared Hyderabad-based AET Laboratories proposal for induction of additional foreign equity in a pharmaceutical company worth Rs 5.34 crore and the proposal of Bharat Electronics, Bangalore to set up a JV company worth Rs 2.5 crore. However, the government has deferred 7 FDI proposals and rejected one.

To attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government in FY14 Budget has proposed to follow the international practice with regard to defining FDI and foreign institutional investors (FII) to remove the ambiguity in making distinction between the two types of investments. India has allowed FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route, but for certain sensitive sectors, FIPB clearance is required.

In the April-December period of 2012, the FDI inflows have declined by about 42 per cent to $16.94 billion. The sectors, which have received large FDI inflows during the nine months of the financial year are services, hotel, tourism, metallurgical, construction and automobiles. India received maximum FDI from Mauritius, followed by Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and the UK.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,621.95 down by 19.65 points or 0.35% 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 Hindalco up by 2.78%, GAIL up by 2.68%, Sesa Goa up by 2.41%, BPCL up by 2.28% and HCL Tech up by 2.14%.

On the flip side, Cairn down by 2.94%, Tata Motors down by 2.56%, DLF down by 2.37%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.34%, and Bharti Airtel down by 2.17% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.60%, Hang Seng declined 1.08%, Jakarta Composite dipped 0.48%, Nikkei 225 dropped 1.26%, Straits Times decreased 0.13% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.35%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up by 0.19% and KOSPI Composite up by 0.08 points.
Following Asian markets losses, Indian equity markets continued trading lower in the late morning session, amid rampant selling, on the last day of week and quarter. The 50-share Nifty touched its lowest intraday level since November 23, 2012 breaking its 200-day moving average, while Sensex touched its lowest intraday level since November 26, 2012. Investors were trading cautiously awaiting October-December current account and balance of payments data due later in the day, which will be the major factor in monetary policy decisions. Markets will remain volatile ahead of the expiry of domestic derivatives at the end of the session. In currency markets, rupee erased some early losses and trading flat in negative territory amid increasing dollar demand from importers. On the sectoral front, rate-sensitive shares belonging to auto and bank sectors were trading deep in red. Power, FMCG and oil stocks too were mostly down in negative territory. A few blue chips from metal, information technology and healthcare sectors were up with strong gains.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly lower affected by a feeble euro zone data, a slow debt auction in Italy, worries over the potential run on Cyprus's banks. Back home, the market breadth was favoring negative trend; there were 1,054 shares on the gaining side against 1,168 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,635.83, down by 68.70 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 18,708.22 and 18,568.43. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.12% and Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Health Care up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.95%, PSU up 0.70%, IT up 0.60% and Capital Goods up by 0.39%, while Auto down by 1.38%, Realty down by 1.09%, Bankex down by 0.43%, Power down by 0.29% and FMCG down by 0.08% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco Industries up by 2.90%, Gail India up by 2.65%, Sterlite Industries up by 2.58%, ONGC up by 1.95% and Coal India up by 1.56%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp was down by 2.31%, Tata Motors was down by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 2.02% and Jindal Steel was down by 1.52% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government has approved 6 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals amounting to Rs 732.77 crore, including Air Asia Investment, Malaysia. Based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in its meeting held on March 6, 2013, the government has approved the six proposals of FDI.

Among the approved proposals are, AirAsia Investment, Malaysia’s proposal worth Rs 80.98 crore to set up a Joint Venture company to undertake the business of operation of scheduled passenger airlines. While, the biggest proposal that was cleared was that of Hyderabad -based Navayuga Road Projects plan to act as an investing company and to make downstream investments in its special purpose companies worth of Rs 357.60 crore. The government also cleared Hyderabad-based AET Laboratories proposal for induction of additional foreign equity in a pharmaceutical company worth Rs 5.34 crore and the proposal of Bharat Electronics, Bangalore to set up a JV company worth Rs 2.5 crore. However, the government has deferred 7 FDI proposals and rejected one.

To attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government in FY14 Budget has proposed to follow the international practice with regard to defining FDI and foreign institutional investors (FII) to remove the ambiguity in making distinction between the two types of investments. India has allowed FDI in most of the sectors through automatic route, but for certain sensitive sectors, FIPB clearance is required.

In the April-December period of 2012, the FDI inflows have declined by about 42 per cent to $16.94 billion. The sectors, which have received large FDI inflows during the nine months of the financial year are services, hotel, tourism, metallurgical, construction and automobiles. India received maximum FDI from Mauritius, followed by Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands and the UK.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,621.95 down by 19.65 points or 0.35% 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 Hindalco up by 2.78%, GAIL up by 2.68%, Sesa Goa up by 2.41%, BPCL up by 2.28% and HCL Tech up by 2.14%.

On the flip side, Cairn down by 2.94%, Tata Motors down by 2.56%, DLF down by 2.37%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.34%, and Bharti Airtel down by 2.17% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite tumbled 2.60%, Hang Seng declined 1.08%, Jakarta Composite dipped 0.48%, Nikkei 225 dropped 1.26%, Straits Times decreased 0.13% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.35%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite was up by 0.19% and KOSPI Composite up by 0.08 points.