Indian equities add losses; Sensex dips below 19K level

Indian equity markets added losses to continue weak trade in late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments were on pessimistic note after an HSBC survey stated that the country’s private sector output for the month of March witnessed the slowest rate of expansion in 17 months owing to a significant decline in new business orders. The pessimism continued despite some assuring statement of Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, that government will take all the decisive action to push growth to 8 percent. Traders were seen piling some position in Power, Health Care and Bankex sector stocks while selling was witnessed in Auto, Capital Goods and Oil & Gas sector stock.

In scrip specific development, Adani Power was trading firm amid reports that power sector regulator CERC gave a breather to the company on the issue of supply of electricity from its imported coal-based power project at Mundra in Gujarat. Asian Granito and Somany Ceramics were trading in green after settlement has been made between both the companies in the matter of TUFFLONG. KEC International was trading under pressure on reports that income tax department has conducted survey on possible tax evasion of Rs 400 crore. United Spirits (USL) was trading in red after the Bombay High Court allowed banks to sell company shares. USL's parent UB Holdings had sought a stay on banks from selling shares which were pledged as security against loans to another group company Kingfisher Airlines.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,750 and 19,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1545:1051 while 122 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,982.43, down by 58.52 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 19,035.20 and 18,939.46. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading up by 0.48% and 0.86% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.76%, Health Care up by 0.70%, Bankex up by 0.10%, PSU up by 0.04% and Realty up by 0.02% while, Auto down by 1.50%, Capital Goods down by 0.58%, Oil & Gas down by 0.42%, Consumer Durables down by 0.29% and TECK down by 0.28% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 2.88%, Sun Pharma up by 2.06%, NTPC up by 1.88%, Tata Steel up 1.41% and Jindal Steel up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.99%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.94%, Tata Motors down by 2.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.82% and L&T down by 1.29% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, with an aim to improve the rural roads, the government has signed a $252 million loan pact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for development of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal. Provision of all-weather roads in rural areas is a crucial investment since it will improve access to markets, district headquarters, health and education facilities, and other centres of economic activity.   

The first tranche of the loan amount will be around $800 million for financing facility under Rural Connectivity Investment Programme, which will enable construction of 3,461 kilometres of all-weather rural roads in the five states, benefiting nearly 1,600 rural habitations. The first tranche from the ADB has a 25-year term, which includes a grace period of 5 years and has a commitment charge of 0.15 percent per year. Further, the interest rate has to be determined in accordance with ADB's LIBOR-based lending facility.

Moreover, the first stage of this loan will invest in physical infrastructure and strengthen institutional arrangements, road safety, business processes, and asset management. Meanwhile, the first phase of the project is expected to be completed in December, 2015. Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is the executing agency for the project at the central level while the respective state rural roads development agencies will be the implementing agencies at the state level.

 The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,729.40, down by 18.70 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 5,744.95 and 5,716.50. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 2.94%, Reliance Infrastructure up by 2.57%, Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 2.31%, NTPC up 1.70% and Tata Steel up by 1.60%.

On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.84%, Bajaj-Auto down by 2.81%, Tata Motors down by 2.71%, NMDC down by 2.61% and Bank of Baroda down by 2.34% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices have recovered some lost ground; Jakarta Composite up by 0.37%, Straits Times up by 0.28%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.37% and Nikkei 225 was up by 2.99%.

On the flip side, Hang Seng was trading down 0.14%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.11%, KLSE Composite down by 0.13% and KOSPI Composite was down by 0.15%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 lost 0.26%, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.16% and United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower 0.28%.