Markets shift gears to trade in red; Nifty slips below 6,250 level

Indian equity markets, shifting gears are now languishing near day’s low point on account of accentuated selling pressure which has dragged benchmarks in red terrain. While, Sensex has lost over quarter of points and holding a bit above 20,900, Nifty losing over half a percent is gyrating below the crucial 6,250 level. Meanwhile, broader indices although holding their fort in green, have pared most of their gains. Stocks from Realty, Banking and Metal counters are exerting maximum pressure on local equity markets, while those from Power, Information Technology and Health Care counters are slogging to limit their downside. Besides, negative global set-up is also spilling pessimism for Dalal Street. On the global front, Asian shares were mostly downbeat on Wednesday after upbeat US data fanned speculation the Federal Reserve could start slowing its asset buying as early as next month.

Closer home, after getting a weak start, benchmarks gained momentum in morning deals, led by the gains of IT counter which were in most jubilant mood after the global IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp reported a better-than-expected 22 percent rise in revenue, helped by contracts from insurers setting up online exchanges as part of President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms and raised its full-year forecast for both profit and revenue. Nevertheless, bout of selling pressure witnessed in afternoon deals took out the entire steam from the market, whose breadth is still in the favour of advances which are outpacing declines, despite narrower margin, in ratio of 1207:960; while 120 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20904.63, down by 70.16 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 21045.38 and 20882.64. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declines on the index.

The broader indices too gave away most of their gains; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.07%, while Smallcap index was up by 0.67%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.23%, IT up by 0.97%, Teck up by 0.62%, Healthcare up by 0.58% and Capital Goods up by 0.10%.While, Realty down by 1.44%, Bankex down by 1.39%, Metal down by 1.14%, Oil and Gas down by 0.68% and Consumer Durables down by 0.56% were top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.04%, TCS up by 1.71%, Sun Pharma up by 1.45%, Hero MotoCorp and Tata Power up by 1.14%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 2.89%, Hindalco Inds down by 2.00%, HDFC down by 1.91%, SBI down by 1.88% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.65% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, confident over the improving macro-economic indicators of the country, Plan panel Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that the worst is probably over for Indian economy and the growth would be better in the second half of this fiscal. Ahluwalia said that the domestic economy has bottomed out as the better than expected core industrial sector in September has revealed some sign of growth recovery. Indian economy’s growth slowed down drastically to a decade low of 5 percent last fiscal after recording an average of nearly 8 percent over the last nine fiscals.

Indian macroeconomic data has started showing signs of improvement with core sector growth at 11 months high of 8% in September against 3.7% growth in the previous month. Further, the government has also asserted that country’s deficits will be contained within the target limits. The government has set target to contain the CAD at 3.7 percent and fiscal deficit at 4.8 percent of GDP in the current financial year.

However, Ahluwalia has expressed concerns over the rising inflation saying that present situation of the country on inflation front is not comfortable. As per Ahluwalia, it is difficult to make balance between boosting growth and taming inflation. The WPI inflation accelerated to 7-month high of 6.46% in the month of September on y-o-y basis as against 6.10% in August and 8.07% during the corresponding month of the previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,222.65, down by 30.50 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 6,269.70 and 6,220.25. There were 13 stocks advancing against 35 declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were NTPC up by 2.14%, TCS up by 1.78%, Sun Pharma up by 1.45%, Power Grid up by 1.31% and Asian Paints up by 1.10%. On the flip side, SSLT down by 2.84%, JP Associate down by 2.63%, DLF down by 2.61%, Ambuja Cement down by 2.31% and Indusind bank down by 2.25% was the major loser on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in green; Straits Times up by 0.07%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.79%, Hang Seng up by 0.04%,Taiwan Weighted up by 0.24%, and Jakarta Composite up by 0.10%, while Shanghai Composite down by 0.82%, Seoul Composite down by 0.01% and KLSE Composite down by 0.23%.