Benchmarks pare losses; Sensex takes support at 20,000 mark

Indian equity markets pared losses taking support at lower levels to regain some lost ground, but still languish much below yesterday's close to continue to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were on pessimistic note from the start of the trade as a result of RBI’s latest move to tighten rupee liquidity, which lowered the amount banks can borrow or lend under its daily liquidity window. Traders were seen piling positions in IT and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Capital Goods and Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Coromandel International was trading in red after touching 52-week low after the fertilizer maker reported poor numbers in April-June quarter. IDFC was trading in red after foreign brokerage firm downgraded the stock and cut its price target. Wockhardt plunged to hit a new 52-week low after foreign fund house Macquarie Equities Research downgraded the stock to neutral from outperform and cut the target price by almost half. The market may remain volatile this week as traders may roll over positions in the futures & options (F&) segment from the current month series i.e. July 2013 series to next month series i.e. August 2013 series. The near month July 2013 derivatives contracts will expire tomorrow i.e. July 25, 2013.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,000 and 20,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 582:1508, while 125 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20065.07, down by 237.06 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 20,252.70 and 19994.25. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 1.89% and 1.54% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Information Technology up by 1.14% and TECK up by 0.99%, while Bankex down by 4.51%, Capital Goods down by 2.95%, Metal down by 2.09%, Consumer Durables down by 2.06% and PSU down by 1.79% were the top losers on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.10%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.79%, Cipla up by 1.20%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.11% and Sun Pharma up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel down by 4.04%, ICICI Bank down by 3.99%, L&T down by 3.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.71% and Sterlite Industries down 3.37% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily has ruled out reconsidering over gas pricing policy, saying that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has taken the decision and there was no proposal before the government to reconsider the new gas pricing policy. Moily said that, the government doesn’t want to change it as the enhancement of gas price is in the favour of nation’s development, although, the decision of gas price hike has attracted criticism, particularly from the Left parties.

Moily further added that, in a bid to raise energy production to 800 MW from 32 MW at present, ONGC would accord priority to make available 20 lakh cubic metres of gas per day to the Puducherry Power Corporation in Karaikal and the state run company has agreed to fulfill this obligation on a priority basis and would also ensure transportation of the gas within two years. The state run PSU company would also associate itself with the state government in setting up a super speciality hospital at Karaikal.

This issue was discussed with Lt. Governor of Puducherry Veerendra Kataria and Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy too was keen on augmenting power generation in the state. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Panabaka Lakshmi too supported the same. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Rangasamy had assured that accelerating government’s initiatives like acquiring land and other allied work will boost energy production.

Further, Veerappa Moily said that GAIL’s pipeline project would help people of Tamil Nadu, particularly, farmers and would not have negative impact on agriculture. Such project, covering around 16,000 km all over the country, has already benefited farmers, apparently referring to the objections by the Tamil Nadu government in this regard.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,983.75, down by 94.05 points or 1.55% after trading in a range of 6,047.25 and 5,962.60. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 2.38%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.89%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.34%, Sun Pharmaceuticals down by 1.20% and Cipla up by 1.03%. On the flip side, IndusInd Bank down by 8.74%, IDFC down by 8.05%, Axis Bank down by 6.33%, Kotak Bank down 5.93% and JP Associates down by 5.88% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading on a mixed note; Shanghai Composite declined 0.52%, Jakarta Composite dropped 1.49%, Nikkei 225 decreased 0.32% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.22%.

On the flip side, KLSE Composite rose 0.23%, Straits Times increased 0.55%, Seoul Composite was up by 0.42% and Hang Seng added 0.24%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.67%, Germany’s DAX added 0.47% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 edged higher by 0.58%.