Benchmarks add losses; PSU, Oil & Gas drag

Indian equities added losses to continue weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on positive note from early trades after retail inflation came much below the street’s expectation at 24 months low of 8.79% for the month of January. The mood however turned pessimistic and selling crept in as industrial production shrank by 0.6% in December 2013 as against 1.3% in November. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU, Oil & Gas and Bankex sector. In scrip specific development, Cipla was trading in red after the company’s December-quarter profit dropped by 16.5 percent to 2.84 billion rupees, lagging estimates. Coal India was trading in red after its December quarter earnings fell short of expectations.

On the global front, the Asian markets barring Jakarta Composite and Straits Times were trading in red, while the European markets were too trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,050 and 20,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 868:1510 while 136 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20275.17, down by 173.32 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 20503.86 and 20260.60. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.

The broader indices lost some more ground; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.45% and Small cap index lost 0.63%.

While, most of the sectoral indices had dipped their heads in red, only Realty and Auto were up by 0.68% and 0.06% respectively. On the flip side, PSU down by 2.17%, Oil & Gas down by 1.46%, Bankex down by 1.42%, Power down by 1.16% and Capital Goods down by 1.16%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 1.41%, Sun Pharma up by 1.01%, TCS up by 0.98%, M&M up by 0.75% and Tata Motors up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 6.78%, ONGC down by 3.43%, Coal India down by 3.41%, BHEL was down by 2.58%, and Tata Power down by 2.26% 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 6,025.80, down by 58.20 points or 0.96% after trading in a range of 6,094.40 and 6,021.15. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 decliners on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 2.21%, SSLT up by 1.47%, Sun Pharma up by 1.03%, TCS up by 1.01% and M&M up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 6.97%, Bank of Baroda down by 5.01%, Jindal Steel down by 4.20%, ONGC down by 3.50% and Coal India down by 3.48% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng dropped 0.54%, KLSE Composite dropped 0.52%, Shanghai Composite was down 0.55%, Nikkei 225 declined by 1.79%, Seoul Composite shed 0.46% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.51%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite inched up 0.01% and Straits Times was up by 0.04%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.22%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.33% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.49%.