Benchmarks pare losses; Nifty below 5,950 mark

Indian equity markets pared losses but continued to trade weak in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters, taking cues from European counterparts. The sentiments on the street were on pessimistic mood after Reserve Bank hiked short term borrowing rates overnight to rescue the falling rupee. The mood was also dampen after Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported that slow progress of economic reforms is expected to pull down India’s growth to 5.8% in 2013 from 6% projected earlier. ADB in April had projected a growth rate of 6% for India in 2013. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Oil & Gas and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Bankex and Capital Goods sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) was trading in green after market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) gave a go-ahead to a proposal, which would allow Tamil Nadu government-run companies to buy 3.56% stake in the government-owned company. Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores was trading firm after touching 52-week high on reports that JSW Steel is looking to buy a stake in the company.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green while the European markets were trading on a pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,950 and 19,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 713:1382, while 116 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19827.07, down by 207.41 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 19848.66 and 19649.58. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 declines on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 1.39% and 0.91% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG up by 1.33%, Oil & Gas up by 0.48%, TECK up by 0.40% and IT up by 0.12%, while Realty down by 5.42%, Bankex down by 4.74%, Capital Goods down by 2.24%, Metal down by 2.09% and Auto down by 1.40% were the top losers on the losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.00%, ITC up by 1.89%, ONGC up by 1.59%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.01% and Sun Pharma up by 0.84%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down by 5.56%, SBI was down by 4.34%, Sterlite Industries was down by 3.89%, HDFC was down by 3.63% and L&T down by 3.46%, were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, expressing hopes that Indian economy will pick up pace in coming quarters, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is expecting a better economic growth in current year, as compared to last year’s 5 percent growth. India’s growth rate declined to 5 percent, a decade low, in 2012-13 on account of global economic slowdown as well as domestic factors. Ahluwalia said that the nation is expected to see a normal growth process as euro zone will move towards positive growth by 2014.

By adding further he said the country is likely to grow, if not 8 percent then the best is at something about 7 percent, however, the 8 percent is also achievable as it is a long term projection. Though, there has been no change in official estimates of economic growth projection for 2013-14 so far, which was 6.5 percent factored by Finance Minister while presenting budget. The government in its efforts formed the Cabinet Committee of Investment (CCI) to tackle the domestic supply side problems which are impacting Indian economy.

Earlier in April this year, Ahluwalia had said that India can grow by 6.5 percent in the current fiscal during which big projects are likely to get clearances from CCI and the decision to set up CCI would have a big impact on the economic growth in the current fiscal. He added that nation’s economy will begin to see the turnaround in coming two - three quarters as the government has taken a number of measures recently to revive investment, including the setting up of CCI.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,947.90, down by 82.90 points or 1.37% after trading in a range of 5,956.30 and 5,910.95. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 2.17%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.99%, ITC up by 1.74%, Ambuja Cements up by 1.47% and ONGC up by 1.45%. On the flip side, IndusInd Bank down by 8.26%, IDFC down by 7.47%, DLF down by 7.29%, JP Associates down by 7.15% and Kotak Bank down by 6.73% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite up by 0.31%, Hang Seng up 0.04%, Jakarta Composite rose 0.07%, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.64% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.07%.

On the flip side, Straits Times slipped 0.56%, KLSE Composite down by 0.11% and Seoul Composite decreased 0.47%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.48%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.39% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 inched lower by 0.01%.