Benchmarks lose some more ground in noon deals

Key domestic benchmarks continued to trade southward following slump in the Indian rupee which hit record low against the dollar today. The rupee was trading at 61.72, sharply lower than Monday’s close of 60.88/89. Though, the government has taken many steps to contain the free fall of rupee in the past few days but has met with utter disappointment. Weak global cues too dampened the sentiments with all the Asian equity indices trading in the red as investors remained cautious on speculation that the US Federal Reserve will soon reduce economic stimulus. European markets too opened mostly in the red, weighing down investors confidence. Back home, selling was both brutal and wide based as none of sectoral indices on BSE was spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include Consumer durables, banking, realty and metal. Sentiments also got impacted after Financial Technologies stock once again tumbled over 21% after trading in e-series product contracts were halted at National Spot Exchange (NSEL), the only contracts available on the exchange platform, as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, the overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of declines which have outnumbered advances in the ratio of 1408: 522; while 129 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18918.28, down by 263.98 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 19131.92 and 18912.53.  The broader indices too added losses; BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were trading lower by 2.23% and 1.43% respectively.

All sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in red. Consumer Durables down by 5.20%, Realty down by 4.38%, Metal down by 3.40%, Bankex down by 3.38% and Capital Goods down by 2.31% were the top losing indices.

On the Sensex, 3 stocks were advancing and 26 were declining, while one stock remains unchanged. The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.90%, Hero Moto Corp up by 1.82% and TCS up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 5.78%, Tata Steel down by 4.47%, Bajaj Auto down by 3.90%, HDFC Bank down by 3.86% and Tata power down by 3.46% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) into India increased by 24.2 per cent to $3.95 billion in April-May period of 2013 from $3.18 billion received in the same period of previous year. The high FDI inflows came from countries including Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and the US.

The FDI inflows for the fiscal 2012-13 recorded a decline of 38% to $22.42 billion compared to the $35.12 billion inflow in the previous year. Country wise, Mauritius remained at the top spot with maximum FDI of $9.49 billion, followed by UK at $7.87 billion, Singapore at $5.25 billion, Japan at $2.97 billion and United States at $1.11 billion.  

Meanwhile, the government has taken several policy decisions to attract foreign investments including allowing FDI in multi-brand retail and civil aviation sectors and seeking legislative approval for increasing FDI cap in insurance and pension sectors. It has approved 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector. Meanwhile, India would require around $1 trillion in the 12th five year plan (2012-2017), to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth. Further, a rise in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated from the record low of over 61 against the US dollar.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,593.30, down by 92.10 points or 1.62% after trading in a range of 5,664.90 and 5,592.40.

On Nifty, 6 were advancing and 44 declining, the top gainers of the Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 2.99%, Hero Moto Corp up by 1.77%, Power Grid up by 1.61%, HCL Tech up by 0.23% and TCS up by 0.16%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 6.33%, Asian paints down by 5.83%, DLF down by 5.57%, JP Associate down by 5.57% and Sesa Goa down by 5.35% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite up by 0.47%, Nikkei 225 was up by 1%, Jakarta Composite up by 0.36%. While, Hang Seng down by 1.20%, Taiwan Weighted down by 1.23%, KLSE Composite down by 0.17%, Straits Times down by 0.53% and Seoul Composite down by 0.50%.

European markets have got off to a choppy start; with CAC 40 rose 0.28%, while DAX slides by 0.05% and FTSE 100 dipped 0.07%.