Benchmarks trade lower as rupee weak

Benchmarks continued to trade lower on back of selling pressure witnessed in financials. Sentiments got dampened as the Rupee opened slightly weak due to dollar demand from corporates. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 61.80 per dollar against the Friday’s close of 61.44 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange. Some cautiousness also came in after study by CII Ascon has shown that industrial growth in the three months ended 30 September remained dismal despite the government introducing a number of reform measures to boost the economy .Investors also fretted ahead of the Infosys quarterly results later this week that will kick start the earnings season for July-September quarter. On the global front, Most of the Asia-Pacific indices were trading in the red at this point of time with investors choosing to trim down positions on account of U.S. lawmakers’ wrangle over the debt limit and partial government shutdown. The US markets closed mostly lower for the week, although edged higher on Friday, as optimism grew that lawmakers would reach a deal to end America’s budget standoff. Back home, traders were buying, IT, Health Care and Teck while selling was seen in Bankex, PSU and Oil & Gas on the BSE.

The market breadth on BSE remains negative with advances to declines in the ratio of 773: 827. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 19711.76, down by 204.19 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 19888.41 and 19647.88. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.07% and Small cap index gained 0.14%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, IT up by 0.75%,  Health Care up by 0.53%, Teck up by 0.49% ,while Bankex down by 2.65%, PSU down by 1.32%, Oil & Gas down by 1.19%, Realty down by 0.91%  and Capital Goods down by 0.90%  were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.37%, Jindal Steel up by 0.97%, TCS up by 0.87%  Hindalco Inds up by 0.64%, and BHEL up by 0.45%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down by 3.65%, Coal India was down by 3.47% ,HDFC Bank was down by 3.02%, HDFC was down by 2.34%, and L&T was down by 1.84% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, As per the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey, Indian industry growth in the period of  July-September, 2013 remained dismal, despite the government introducing various measures to boost the economy’ s growth. CII, survey, based on the study of 91 industrial sectors in the domestic economy, revealed that sectors reporting contraction in the July to September quarter rose sharply to 38.46% from 15.5% in the year-ago period. 

The recent CII highlighted that the number of sectors, which saw contraction in terms of revenue in the second quarter of 2013-14 rose to 35 from 16 a year ago. Sectors that saw contraction included utility vehicles, bus and truck tyres, newsprint, cellular services and natural gas. CII survey further said that the number of sectors that showed excellent growth, or growth in excess of 20%, rose marginally to 4.39% from 3.8% a year earlier. Moreover, the sectors showing high growth of 10-20% declined to 10.98% in the July-September quarter from 29.1% growth in the same period of previous fiscal. By adding further, CII said that sectors that witnessed excellent growth include hydroelectric power and television sets, while the high growth sectors included air-conditioners, two-wheelers, refrigerators, and washing machines. Sectors witnessing low growth up to 10% comprised cement, alcoholic beverages, nuclear power, railway equipment, and electric fans, among others, it added.

Indian industry body further said that industry growth is likely to remain under pressure in coming future as Indian economy is showing no signs of bottoming out in the near future. Therefore, there is a need for a concerted effort from policymakers to introduce a number of measures to boost investment in the industry. Meanwhile, Indian economic growth slowed down to four year low at 4.4 percent in Q1 FY14

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,840.35 down by 66.95 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 5,895.25 and 5,825.85. There were 15 stocks advancing against 33 declines while 1 stocks remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.45%, Jindal Steel up by 1.44%, Lupin up by 1.17%, Jindal Steel up by 1.06% and Ranbaxy up by 0.85%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.67%, Coal India down by 3.64%, HDFC Bank down by 3.04%, Axis Bank down by 2.62% and IndusInd Bank down by 2.46% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 169.16 points or 0.73% to 22,969.38, Jakarta Composite dipped 6.17 points or 0.14% to 4,383.17, KLSE Composite slipped 0.55 points or 0.03% to 1,776.01, Nikkei 225 dropped 123.31 points or 0.88% to 13,901.00, Seoul Composite shed 3.23 points or 0.16% to 1,993.75 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 20.79 points or 0.25% to 8,343.76.

On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 14.64 points or 0.68% to 2,174.66.