Benchmarks dip again; Nifty below 5,850 mark

Indian equity markets added losses to continue their weak trade in late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters while taking cues from weak global counterparts. The sentiments dampened interpreting no respite for markets, as Finance Minister P. Chidambaram commented that he did not expected RBI’s recent liquidity steps to lead to increase in bank lending rates, notably a day ahead of RBI’s monetary policy review. Traders were seen piling position in IT, Auto and TECK stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Metal and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Indian Bank was trading in red after touching its 52-week low after the state-owned bank reported a 31.3% fall in the net profit number to Rs 317.39 crore, weighed down by higher provisions. Jet Airways was trading firm as the government is likely to take a call on the largest FDI in civil aviation when the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) holds a crucial meeting to consider the Rs 2,058-crore deal of Abu Dhabi-based Etihad picking up 24% stake in Jet. Wipro, the country’s third- largest software exporter, was trading in green after the IT major reported an 11% rise in June quarter profit and added that it was upbeat about demand for its outsourcing services. Natco Pharma was locked at upper circuit limit after the healthcare firm received a favourable US ruling on Copaxone patent case.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red while the European markets were trading on a mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,850 and 19,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 747:1313, while 113 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19613.09, down by 135.10 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 19,751.03 and 19,606.75. The broader indices too pruned down some losses; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 1.25% and 0.66% respectively. On the BSE Sensex, 12 stocks were advancing and 18 were declining.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.84%, Auto up by 0.22% and TECK up by 0.19%, while FMCG down by 2.62%, Metal down by 1.62%, PSU down by 1.52%, Realty down by 1.48% and Bankex down 1.20% were the top losers on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 5.26%, Jindal Steel up by 2.95%, Sun Pharma up by 2.08%, Tata Motors up by 1.88% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 4.77%, Sterlite Industries down by 4.11%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.81%, ITC down by 2.75%, and Coal India down by 2.73% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, in a move to boost the agriculture production, the government is likely to consider the issue of interest subvention scheme for providing short-term crop loans at concessional rate of 7 per cent to farmers. As per the interest subvention scheme, the government pays 2 per cent interest subsidy to banks for granting short-term crop loan to farmers at a rate of 7 per cent.

Earlier, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had said that easy availability of agricultural credit is the main driver of agricultural production and had announced that the interest subvention scheme will be continued in 2013-14. He had also said that the government will increase the short-term crop loans target to Rs 700,000 crore for 2013-14 from 5,75,000 crore fixed for 2012-13.

By adding further, finance minister had said that farmers, who repay the loan on time, will be able to get credit at 4 per cent per annum. Presently, the scheme has been implemented by public sector banks, private banks, regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperative banks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,839.40, down by 46.80 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 5,886.00 and 5,835.90.

On Nifty, 13 stocks were advancing and 37 were declining. The top gainers of the Nifty were Jindal Steel up by 2.95%, Tata Motors up by 1.74%, NTPC up by 1.06%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.05% and Sun Pharma up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 5.13%, Sesa Goa down by 4.34%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.74%, Ambuja Cement down by 3.73% and JP Associates down 3.36% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite declined 1.72%, Hang Seng dropped 0.54%, Jakarta Composite shed 1.46%, KLSE Composite slipped 0.44%, Nikkei 225 tumbled 3.32%, Straits Times dipped 0.03%, Seoul Composite decreased 0.57% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.80%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.28%, Germany’s DAX added 0.25% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 lost 0.45%.