Benchmarks extend losses in late morning

Benchmarks equity indices continued trading in red and hit fresh intraday low in late morning trade in absence of any positive cues. Investor’s sentiments remained dampened as the rupee showed significant depreciation against the US dollar, breaking its upward trend on capital outflows. There was also some concern on mixed set of macro data with the Indian industrial production growth rate remaining negative for the third straight month, contracting 0.6 per cent in December 2013, as against a contraction of revised  -1.3% in November. However, loss on the down-side remained capped as the retail inflation slowed to a two-year low in January to 8.79 percent, its lowest level since January 2012.  Though, core retail inflation remained at around 8 percent, which has been deemed uncomfortably high by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan.

On the global front, Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red, with investors treading cautiously and pressing some sales amid uncertainty about the near-term global economic outlook. Back home, traders were buying, Auto and FMCG stocks, while selling was seen in Bankex, Power and Oil & Gas on the BSE. The market breadth on BSE remains negative with advances to declines in the ratio of 669:1047. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 20,300 and 6,000 levels respectively.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20352.91 down by 95.58 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 20503.86 and 20326.63. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.33% and Small cap index lost 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 0.28% and FMCG up by 0.12%, while Bankex down by 0.99%, Power down by 0.85%, Oil & Gas down by 0.82%, Consumer Durables down by 0.82%, and Capital Goods down by 0.60% were the top losers on the sectoral index. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.31%, Tata Motors up by 1.14%, Sun Pharma up by 1.02%, SSLT up by 0.61% and TCS up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Cipla was down by 5.57%, BHEL was down by 2.03%, Coal India was down by 2.00%, Wipro was down by 1.81% and ONGC was down by 1.66% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, India Inc has given thumbs up to Interim Rail Budget 2014, wherein no populist measures were announced. Appreciating government's focus on modernization and expansion of the country's vast rail network without touching passenger fares and freight rates, India Inc termed ‘Railway Budget 2014’ - a step in the right direction.

It noted that government’s focus was rightly attracting huge investments to upgrade, modernizing and expanding railways as per aspirations of people and attempting to bring in foreign direct investment (FDI). It further stated that increasing private participation, as rightly noticed by the government, seems to be the way of future development.

In the interim budget for four months in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge announced to set up an independent Rail Tariff Authority to rationalize fares. He also highlighted that there was a proposal to expand dynamic pricing of tickets in line with the airline industry.

Further, the minister announced the launch of 17 new premium trains, 39 express trains and ten passenger trains in the coming year and providing rail connectivity to Katra and Vaishnodevi in Jammu and Kashmir, and Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,049.45 down by 34.55 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 6,094.40 and 6,040.20. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 decliners on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 1.41%, Tata Motors up by 1.08%, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries up by 0.97%, DLF up by 0.78% and TCS up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 5.71%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.72%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.51%, BHEL down by 2.22% and Wipro down by 2.12% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng dropped 57.35 points or 0.26% to 22,228.44, Jakarta Composite lost 2.32 points or 0.05% to 4,493.96, KLSE Composite dropped 5.21 points or 0.29% to 1,820.43, Nikkei 225 declined by 184.77 points or 1.25% to 14,615.29, Seoul Composite shed 1.51 points or 0.08% to 1,934.33 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 18.78 points or 0.22% to 8,492.09.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up marginally by 1.63 points or 0.08% to 2,111.59 and Straits Times was up by 9.45 points or 0.31% to 3,044.90.