Markets extend early losses in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks extended early losses and reached at their intra-day low level in afternoon session on account of weak global cues. Investors remained on cautious mood as  better than expected economic data from US raised fear that the Federal Reserve may reduce stimulus sooner than expected. Further, continued weakness in rupee due to dollar buying by banks for corporate and affirmed negative outlook by global rating agency Standard & Poor’s for Indian economy also added to the pessimistic sentiments. On sector front, Consumer Durables index was the top loser among the sectoral indices down by around 1.40% on BSE followed by Oil & Gas, PSU and Bankex. However, investors were seen piling up position in Healthcare and IT stocks. On stock specific movement, Tata steel, Tata Motors and SSLT were trading up by over 1%, while, HDFC and ONGC were trading down by over 2% on BSE. Among other shares, Aurobindo Pharma has surged nearly 10% on BSE after reporting a healthy 80% year-on-year (yoy) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 245 crore for the Q2 FY14 on back of strong operational performance.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower with Japanese indices Nikkei down by 0.95% and Shanghai Composite down by 0.53%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading down their psychological 6,200 and 21,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,051 stocks traded, 916 stocks advanced, while 1,003 stocks declined on the BSE.       

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,744.22 down by 78.55 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 20,821.01 and 20,645.64. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, and Small cap index up by 0.04%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.57%, IT up by 0.47%, Metal up by 0.40%, Realty up by 0.38% and Teck up by 0.31%. While, Consumer Durables down by 1.43%, Oil and Gas down by 1.11%, PSU down by 0.52%, Bankex down by 0.48% and Capital Goods down by 0.25% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.23%, Tata Motors up by 1.62%, SSLT up by 1.36%, BHEL up by 0.78% and Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 0.66%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.60%, ONGC down by 2.49%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.79%, Gail India down by 1.78% and Coal India down by 1.17% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Telecom Commission (TC), major decision-making agency of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to recommend the reserve price for the 800 MHz band within 15 days so that the government could auction the 800-MHz spectrum along with the 1,800-MHz and 900-MHz bands. The Telecom Commission is of the view that keeping 800 MHz band spectrum unsold would result in lower revenues for government and it may be appropriate to put the spectrum to auction to allow telecom players to determine the appropriate technology solution using the liberalised spectrum. The government has planned to conduct the auction on January 8, 2014.

Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had rejected TRAI's recommendation of an extended GSM band, taking spectrum out of the existing 800-MHz (CDMA) band as CDMA operators, including Reliance Communications, Sistema Shyam, and Tata Teleservices currently use it, and the proposed extended GSM band would block their further roll out.

Meanwhile, Telecom Commission (TC) has also recommended raising reserve price for auction of pan-India mobile phone spectrum by 15% more than the price suggested by the TRAI in the 1,800 megahertz (MHz) and by 25% more in case of 900 MHz. Further, in order to enhance telecom geographical coverage, the Commission has also decided to modify the roll out obligation of telecom operators in a bid to ensure that all villages are connected. In India, around 50,000 more villages are yet to be covered by mobile operators.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,163.05 down by 24.20 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 6,185.15 and 6,139.85. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were HCL Tech up by 2.12%, Tata Steel up by 2.11%, Tata Motors up by 1.67%, SSLT up by 1.43% and Lupin up by 1.36%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.82%, ACC down by 2.62%, ONGC down by 2.54%, Axis Bank down by 2.42% and Gail down by 1.92%, were the major loser on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Straits Times down by 0.53%, KLSE Composite down by 0.07%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.49%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.65%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.53%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.95%, Hang Seng down by 0.63%, and Seoul Composite down by 0.84%.