Indian equities add losses; Sensex plunges below 20,000 mark

Indian equity markets added losses to continue its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters and taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments on the street turned pessimistic after the country registered its worst gross domestic product (GDP) growth in a decade with the economy registering a paltry growth rate of five percent during the 2012-13 financial year due to poor performance of farm, manufacturing and mining sectors. Traders were seen piling position in IT and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Bankex and FMCG sector stocks.  In the scrip specific development, Opto Circuits (India) slumped and hit fresh new lows after the company posted 95 percent drop in its net profit. Suzlon Energy was trading in red after the wind turbine major net loss for the quarter ended March 31 has widened to Rs 1,912.72 crore. DLF was trading in red after posting its first-ever net loss for a quarter as a sluggish property market added to woes at its insurance and hotel businesses. Steel Authority of India was trading in red following a 72% decline in net profit at Rs 446.53 crore.

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 6,050 and 20,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 729:1454, while 125 scrips remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19,917.29, down by 298.11 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 20,191.29 and 19,869.98. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 0.84% and 0.92% respectively.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was, IT up by 0.98% and TECK up by 0.13% while, Realty down by 2.95%, Bankex down by 1.82%, FMCG down by 1.74%, Oil & Gas down by 1.68% and Metal down by 1.58% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.58%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.21%, TCS up by 0.50%, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories up by 0.20% and Wipro up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 4.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 3.26%, ITC was down by 3.26%, HDFC Bank down by 3.02% and Bharti Airtel was down by 2.98% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the government has asked the European Union (EU) to provide data secure status to India under the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA). India is demanding for a data-secure status as its current lack of status has prevented the flow of sensitive information to India, a big deal for its IT industry.

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht have discussed the current status of the India-European Union Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) negotiations. During the meeting, commerce minister stressed the need for addressing India's concerns on providing data secure status. On the other hand, EU is willing to set up a Joint Working Group which will look at all the technical aspects to ensure that India will be able to achieve necessary compliance for data security purposes.

The country’s business development has been impacted by lack of this status as it restricts transfer of personal data to locations outside EU, unless the importing country ensures adequate data protection. Meanwhile, India is arguing that since the US has a safe harbour pact with the EU, and has a data adequacy agreement with India, therefore the EU should give data adequacy status to India.   

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,027.70, down by 96.35 points or 1.57% after trading in a range of 6,106.25 and 6,016.00. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Sesa Goa up by 2.22%, Infosys up by 1.86%, HCL Technologies up by 1.06%, TCS up by 0.50% and JP Associates up 0.45%. On the flip side, DLF down by 4.96%, Hindalco Industries down by 4.59%, Reliance Infrastructure down by 3.98%, IDFC down by 3.50% and Bank of Baroda down by 3.49% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading on a mixed note; Shanghai Composite slid by 0.74%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.78%, Straits Times was down by 0.58% and Hang Seng too edged lower by 0.41%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite gained by 0.08%, Nikkei 225 surged 1.37%, KOSPI Composite added 0.05% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.14%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 1.15%, Germany’s DAX lost 1.01% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged lower by 0.88%.