Weak trade persists; Realty, Metal drags

Indian equity markets added losses to continue their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters and taking cues from European counterparts. Traders were seen piling position in Health Care, Consumer Durables and FMCG stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Metal and Bankex sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Ranbaxy Laboratories was trading in red on reports that a prominent hospital in Mumbai had advised doctors to stop using the pharma company’s drugs. In addition the Indian Medical Association had asked the Drug Controller General of India to probe the quality of drugs that it produced and sold in India. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries was trading in green after Jefferies maintained a buy rating and raised its target price on the company following strong fourth quarter earnings by the drug maker.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in green barring Hang Seng and Straits Times while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note.  Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,100 and 20,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 891:1314, while 134 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,078.52, down by 82.30 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 20,216.49 and 20,044.74. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.41% and Small cap index was down by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Health Care up by 1.96%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, FMCG up by 0.32% and Auto up by 0.15% while, Realty down by 2.55%, Metal down by 1.39%, Bankex down by 1.18%, IT down by 1.02%, and TECK up by 0.94% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 7.38%, Tata Motors up by 2.18%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.46%, Coal India up by 0.63% and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Tata Steel was down by 2.51%, Sterlite Industries was down by 2.43%, Jindal Steel was down by 2.24%, HDFC was down by 1.91% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.87% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed the banks to disclose details of all capital instruments issued at least on a half-yearly basis along with financial earnings report. The RBI's guidelines on Composition of Capital Disclosure Requirements noted that the disclosure requirement is intended to meet the Basel III requirement to provide a description of the main features of capital instruments.

As per the guidelines, all disclosures must be included in a bank's published financial results/statements and disclosed on bank's website. The central bank’s guidelines will become effective from July 1 and therefore, the first set of disclosures should be made by banks as on September 30, 2013. The RBI has released common reporting template for banks and aimed at to improve transparency of regulatory capital and to enhance market discipline. Till now, lenders don’t disclose details on the structure used for raising capital.

Basel III the global capital norms for banks and its guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital banking parameters viz. capital, leverage, funding and liquidity. India is implementing the norms in a phased manner from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2017.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading 6,079.15, down by 32.10 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 6,125.05 and 6,069.80. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sun Pharmaceuticals up by 7.48%, Tata Motors up by 2.20%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.43%, Lupin up by 1.27% and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories up by 0.51%,. On the flip side, JP Associate down by 4.11%, Tata Steel down by 2.53%, Grasim down by 2.42%, Ranbaxy down by 2.41% and Jindal Steel down 2.33% were the major losers on the index. 

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite rose 0.12%, KLSE Composite strengthened 0.45%, Nikkei 225 surged 0.10%, KOSPI Composite jumped 0.75%, Jakarta Composite up 0.84% and Taiwan Weighted added 0.91%. On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 1.61% and Straits Times was down by 0.85%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 1.00%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.93% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower by 1.15%.