Benchmarks trim gains; trade continues in red

Volatility has persisted in the Indian equity markets that trimmed their minor gains to continue weak trade below neutral line in late afternoon session on account of selling in front line counters. The sentiments turned cautious as core sector data slowed to a 4 month low of 0.1% in June, slowdown in factory activity deepened in July as order books shrank by the most in over four years, taking the HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, lower to 50.1 in July from 50.3 in June. The sentiments also got wary after Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating on Indian stocks to underweight on concerns about delayed growth recovery and rising vulnerabilities for the economy. Traders were seen piling position in Bankex, FMCG and Health Care stocks while selling was witnessed in Realty, Oil & Gas and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Fresenius Kabi Oncology was trading under pressure ahead of Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) hearing today on the company’s delisting plan. Union Bank of India was trading in red disappointing the street with the first quarter net profit rising lower-than-expected at 9.5% year-on-year to Rs 560 crore on higher other income, but dented by rising bad loans.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green barring Taiwan Weighted while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,750 and 19,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 660:1359, while 133 scrips remain unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19327.93, down by 17.77 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 19569.20 and 19170.46. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid and Small cap indices were lower by 1.59% and 1.11% respectively.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Bankex up by 0.51%, FMCG up 0.27% and Health Care up by 0.15%. While Realty down by 3.36%, Oil and gas down by 2.73%, PSU down by 2.45%, Auto down by 1.54% and Metal down by 1.29% were the top losers indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.65%, HDFC Bank up by 3.05%, HDFC up by 2.31%, Jindal Steel up by 1.83% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.48%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.23%, M&M down by 4.12%, BHEL down by 3.89%, Hindalco Industries down by 3.05% and Tata Steel down by 2.50% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, retail inflation for industrial workers increased in June due to rise in prices of food items, cigarette, electricity charges, doctor's fee, medicines and petrol. The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) stood at 11.06 per cent for June, 2013 as compared to 10.68 per cent for the previous month and 10.05 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. For the period of May and June, the retail inflation for industrial workers increased by 1.32 per cent as compared to 0.97 per cent in the same period of previous year.

The largest upward pressure to the change in current index came from food group contributing 2.98 percentage points to the total change. Food inflation in June stood at 14.86 per cent against 13.24 per cent of the previous month and 10.45 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. However, the prices of wheat, groundnut oil and mustard oil decline in the month under review.

On city wise, Pune, Bhilai and Guntur centres recorded the highest increase of 8 points each in index followed by Jalpaiguri, Asansol, Mumbai, Bokaro, Siliguri, Kanpur (7 points each) and Warangal and Vijaywada (6 points each). On the contrary, a decline of 1 point each was recorded in Amritsar and Coimbatore centres. The indices of 39 centres are above All-India Index and other 38 centres’ indices are below the national average.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,729.20, down by 12.80 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 5,808.50 and 5,676.85. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 declines while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Axis Bank up by 3.91%, Hindustan Unilever up by 3.75%, HDFC Bank up by 3.04%, HDFC up by 2.16% and Kotak Bank up by 2.09%. On the flip side, JP Associate down by 9.68%, Ranbaxy down by 8.20%, BPCL down by 6.72%, DLF down by 6.21% and Bank of Baroda down by 5.91% were the major losers on the index.

Most Asian equity indices were trading in green; Shanghai Composite up by 1.77%, Hang Seng up by 0.94%, Straits Times advanced 0.57%, Nikkei 225 up by 2.47%, KLSE Composite gained 0.57%, Seoul Composite up by 0.35% and Jakarta Composite edged higher by 0.30%, while Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.64%.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.27%, Germany’s DAX added 0.69% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.23%.