Sensex, Nifty trade in red

Indian benchmarks continued to trade range bound in the red in late morning session due to uncertainty amidst funds and retail investors. Sentiments seemed low on concerns of early general elections and weak trend in the Asian region in line with overnight fall on the global markets. Sentiments got dampened by data showing that foreign funds remained net sellers of Indian stocks on April 3, 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 368.39 crore on April 3. Domestic sentiments also took a hit because BJP leader L.K. Advani hinted at early elections in 2013. On the global front, Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red amid developments in industrial zone between North Korea and South Korea.

Back home, the traders were seen piling up positions in Auto and Health Care, while selling was seen in IT, Realty and TECK sector. In scrip specific development, Auto stocks were trading under pressure after reporting disappointing March sales numbers as demand has weakened on the back of economic slowdown and consequently weak consumer and business sentiments

In scrip specific actions, Adani Power extends gains after CERC order. Dr Reddy jumped on launching Zoledronic Acid Injection. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading just above their psychological 5600 and 18,600 levels respectively.

The market breadth on BSE was showing negative trend with advances to declines in ratio of 684: 1263.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18675.71, down by 125.93 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 18733.62 and 18612.32. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.80% and Small cap index was down by 1.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.46% and Health Care up by 0.29% while, IT down by 1.68%, Realty down by 1.46%, TECK down by 1.39%, Bankex down by 1.16%, and Capital Goods down by 0.88% were the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddys Lab up by 2.30%, Tata Motors up by 1.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.91%, Gail India up by 0.87%and Tata Power up by 0.68%.

On the flip side, Infosys was down by 2.24% TCS was down by 1.90%, Tata Steel was down by 1.58%, BHEL was down by 1.45%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.44%, were the top losers on the Sensex. Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has projected a fiscal deficit of 5.2 percent in the revised estimates for 2012-13, which is now expected to be revised in light of better than expected revenue realization and savings. With this revised estimates, the government was hoping to collect Rs 4.69 lakh crore from customs, central excise and service tax.

As per the current estimates, the indirect tax collection for 2012-13 is expected to exceed the figures projected in the revised estimates, as the actuals are still being worked out. As far as the government expenditure is concerned, there will be a saving of Rs 10,000 crore over and above the revised estimate for 2012-13. The revised estimates had pegged total expenditure for the last fiscal at Rs 14.30 lakh crore.

Further, as per the fiscal road-map, the government is aiming to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.8 percent in current fiscal and further to 3 percent of GDP by 2016-17. Fiscal deficit for 2012-13 is estimated at 5.2 percent, lower than the revised projection of 5.3 percent for the financial year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,630.20 down by 42.70 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 5,643.45 and 5,606.80. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Laboratories up by 1.88%, Tata Motors up by 1.83%, M&M up by 1.22%, GAIL up by 0.99% and Sun Pharma up by 0.66%.

On the flip side, JP Associate down by 2.56%, IndusInd Bank down by 2.51%, UltraTech Cement down by 2.42%, Infosys down by 2.38% and HCL Tech down by 2.17% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Jakarta Composite declined 38.53 points or 0.77% to 4,942.93, Straits Times dipped 7.90 points or 0.24% to 3,312.46, KLSE Composite tumbled 0.21 points or 0.01% to 1,685.58 and KOSPI Composite was down by 25.92 points or 1.31% to 1,957.30.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up 90.54 points or 0.73% to 12,452.74.

Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan remained shut for the trade today.