Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in red

The benchmarks took support at the lower levels of the early morning trades however still tread in the negative territory on back of the weak rupee and profit booking in across global indices. The rupee weakened against the US dollar and hit lowest since June 28, 2012. The partially convertible rupee was at 56.91, down 18 paise against its previous close. Sentiments have got dampened on booking of profit by participants at prevailing levels and depreciating rupee against the dollar, weakening trend on Asian bourses following overnight losses on the US market on the back of weak economic data.

On the global front, Most of Asian equity indices were trading in red. Back home, the traders were seen piling up positions in Capital Goods, Consumer Durables and Metal while selling was seen in Oil and Gas, PSU and Metal sector. In scrip development, Jewellery makers like Titan Industries, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri etc edged lower trades after the government increased customs duty on gold by two percentage points to eight per cent, to arrest rising gold imports, which could widen the current account deficit (CAD).

In scrip specific actions, Ruchi Soya Industries  zoomed  after the leading FMCG company said it has formed a joint venture with Japan's edible oil major J-Oil Mills and global trading firm Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC) to manufacture new innovative products that will be introduced in the market by 2014. Titan Industries soared  after the company is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 450 crore in 2013-14 on retail expansion and new manufacturing units, a growth of three times over last year. Fortis Healthcare rose after India's largest hospital chain, may sell its Vietnam and Hong Kong arms for $380-400 million, or around Rs 2,100 crore. Larsen & Toubro surged after the company plans to bid for hydrocarbon projects worth $3 billion outside India in 2013-14 to compensate for the slowdown in the local market and drive its order book. ONGC slipped after the state-owned company will give 10 to 25 per cent stake in its four coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks to Brisbane-based Dart Energy as it looks to expedite production.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading just above their psychological 5,800 and 19,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was showing negative trend with advances to declines in ratio of 658:932. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19472.58, down by 95.64 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 19503.74 and 19395.32. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.12% and Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Capital Goods up by 0.65%, Consumer Durables up by 0.39% and IT up by 0.01%, while Oil and Gas down by 0.75%, PSU down by 0.67%, Metal down by 0.66%, FMCG down by 0.57%, and Auto down by 0.56% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were L&T up by 1.26%, Wipro up by 1.17%, Cipla up by 0.65%, HDFC up by 0.53% and TCS up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel was down by 2.12%, Gail India was down by 1.62%, Hindalco was down by 1.51%, Bajaj Auto was down by 1.19% and  Sun Pharma was down by 1.48% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Concerned over the ponzi schemes and chit fund scams, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor D Subbarao said there is a need to review the regulatory oversight of this sector keeping in view the mandatory and relative comparative advantages of the financial sector regulators.

Subbarao said, the central bank will increase surveillance on such entities dealing with ponzi and chit funds schemes, adding that the recent scams have occurred in unregulated and illegal entities and need to tighten regulation to make regulation more effective. We also need to pay attention outside the regulated sector, he added.

By adding further, the governor said that the in view of RBI, eventually we must move towards a financial system where collection of deposits is restricted to banks which we regulate. Collection of deposits outside the commercial banking system must be minimized and eventually eliminated. Most of the frauds occurred in the non-banking sector through unlawful and fraudulent schemes.

Though, the RBI oversees around 12,000-odd non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) which are registered with it and has been consciously trying to reduce the number of such entities allowed to take deposits from the public, he added. The RBI has not given a single license of deposit taking NBFCs in the last 15 years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,891.05 down by 32.80 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 5,895.70 and 5,869.50. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 declines on the index. 

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 1.31%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.20%, L&T up by 1.05% Ambuja Cement up by 0.67%, and HDFC up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.46%, GAIL down by 2.21%, Hindalco down by 1.41%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.25% and Lupin down by 1.24% were the major losers on the index.

Most of Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 219.24 points or 0.99% to 21,850.00, KLSE Composite slipped 3.20 points or 0.18% to 1,771.22, Straits Times tumbled 40.25 points or 1.24% to 3,202.59 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 83.80points or 1.02% to 8,098.11.On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 73.74 points or 0.57% to 13,088.61.

Stock markets in China, Indonesia and South Korea remained shut on account of public holidays.