Indian markets trade lower in early deals on weak global cues

Pressurized by weak global cues, Indian equity indices made a gap-down start and were trading with a cut of over a percentage point. The global sentiments remained jittery over the geo-political tensions coupled with uncertainty over the timeline for tapering of US Fed stimulus. The US markets ended lower on Monday, while most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red as sentiments remained dampened after the United States signaled possible military action against the Syrian government over a suspected chemical weapons attack.

Back home, banking shares remained under pressure on the bourses after the rupee once again weakened against the dollar in early trades due to month-end dollar demand. The rupee was trading at Rs 65.27 per dollar compared with Monday’s close of Rs 64.31 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. Sentiments got clobbered out of shape on concerns related to current account deficit (CAD) as Lok Sabha passed the Food Security Bill after considering all the amendments. The bill proposes subsidized food-grain for up to 75 percent of the rural and up to 50 percent of the urban population.

On the sectoral front, software witnessed the maximum gain in trade followed by technology and consumer durables, while banking, realty and public sector undertaking remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were struggling to get some traction, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 379 shares on the gaining side against 735 shares on the losing side while 48 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 18460.72; about 97 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18558.13, and has touched a high and a low of 18460.72 and 18281.61 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 18303.26, down by 254.87 points or 1.37%. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a weak start with 32.62% stocks advancing against 63.25% declines. The broader indices too were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.63% and 0.39% respectively. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 1.21%, Teck up by 0.75% and Consumer Durables up by 0.59%, while Bankex down by 3.04%, Realty down by 2.13%, PSU down by 1.67%, Auto down by 1.55% and Metal down by 1.50% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.27%, TCS up by 1.20%, Wipro up by 0.65% and Dr Reddys Lab up by 0.14%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank was down by 4.34%, HDFC was down by 4.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 2.55%, ONGC was down by 2.48% and Coal India was down by 2.47% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the per capital income, measured by net national income (NNI) has increased by 6.7 percent per annum, while the percentage of poor declined by 2.2 percent during the period 2004-05 to 2011-12 on the back of rising Indian economy, which grew at an average of  8 percent per annum over the period of past few years.

In 2011-12, the government has decided the poverty line in terms of monthly per capita consumption expenditure at Rs 816 in rural areas and Rs 1,000 in urban areas. On state wise, Uttar Pradesh had highest number of people living below poverty line during 2011-12 at 598.19 people out of every lakh. followed by Bihar at 358.15 people (per lakh), Madhya Pradesh 234.04 people, Maharashtra 197.92 people and West Bengal at 184.98 people living below the poverty line.

Meanwhile, the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) has stated the need for faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth in the country to reduce economic disparities. Further, the government expects that the growing Indian economy will result in decreasing the percentage of poor in India in coming future.

The CNX Nifty opened at 5,426.50; about 50 points lower as compared to its previous closing of 5,476.50, and has touched a high and a low of 5,427.40 and 5,389.65 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,395.55, down by 80.95 points or 1.48 %. There were 9 stocks advancing against 40 declines, while one stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Ambuja Cements up by 3.30%, HCL Technologies up by 1.33%, Infosys up by 1.32%, TCS up by 1.22% and Power Grid up by 1.12%. On the flip side, IDFC down by 7.81%, HDFC Bank down by 4.73%, IndusInd Bank down by 4.42%, HDFC down by 4.09% and Axis Bank down by 3.37% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite dipped 3.91 points or 0.19% to 2,092.57, Hang Seng declined 66.61 points or 0.30% to 21,938.71, Jakarta Composite tumbled 112.42 points or 2.73% to 4,008.25, KLSE Composite dropped 18.15 points or 1.05% to 1,704.34, Straits Times contracted 23.02 points or 0.75% to 3,061.39 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 24.69 points or 0.31% to 7,870.28.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 33.40 points or 0.24% to 13,669.68 and Seoul Composite was up by 7.17 points or 0.38% to 1,895.03.