Benchmarks add losses; Sensex slips below 21000 mark

Indian equities added losses to continue its weak trade in the late afternoon session hovering near the lowest point of the day on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters and taking cues from weak global markets, triggered by geopolitical worries over Ukraine. The sentiments got a hit after contracting industrial output and an investment slowdown dragged India’s economic growth to a worse-than-expected 4.7% in the three months to December. Investors did not pay heed towards the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a headline index designed to measure the overall health of the manufacturing sector, which rose to 52.5 in the month of February as against 51.4 in January. Traders were seen piling positions in Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in HealthCare, Capital Goods and IT sector. In scrip specific development, Jaiprakash Power Ventures dropped on profit-taking after the company agreed to sell two hydroelectric power plants to a consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, Taqa for Rs 11,500-12,500 crore. Astrazeneca Pharma India was locked at upper circuit limit after the drug maker stated that its board would meet on Wednesday to discuss delisting proposal. HT Media was trading firm after ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s firm Rare Enterprises purchased 15 lakh shares of the media company through open market route.

On the global front, the Asian market barring Shanghai Composite was trading in red, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note too. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,250 and 21,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1125:1366 while 125 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20922.77, down by 197.35 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 21,140.00 and 20920.99. There were 4 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were too trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.44%, while Small cap index was down 0.17%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.12% and Oil & Gas up by 0.06%. While, HealthCare down by 1.73%, Capital Goods down by 1.35%, IT down by 1.31%, Power down by 1.28%  and Auto down by 1.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 0.61%, ITC up by 0.49%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.15% and Gail India up by 0.11%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 3.05%, Sun Pharma down by 2.91%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.47%, Cipla down by 2.17% and SSLT down by 2.00% were the top losers on the BSE.

Meanwhile, in order to boost the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked industry chambers and associations to come up with innovative solutions to address problems of the MSME sector and provide inputs for policy formulation.

Manmohan Singh stressed that the MSME sector is vital to the national economy and participation of the private sector and civil society is needed to make government's initiatives for the success of the sector. Prime Minister expressed the need to address constraints that still hinder the development of the MSME sector adding that only a fraction of enterprises in India has the skills, risk appetite and resources to avail of the opportunities offered by globalisation. Further, Manmohan Singh added that the government has taken several steps for the development of the MSME sector including the MSME Development Act, 2006, Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme and setting up a six-member inter-ministerial panel which will suggest measures to boost the MSME exports.

The MSME sector contributes around 8% of the country's GDP, 45% of the manufactured output, 43% of country’s exports and provides employment to over 8 crore persons engaged in over 3.6 crore units. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the government has increased Budget allocation for the sector to Rs 24,124 crore from Rs 11,500 crore in the previous five-plan period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,217.70, down by 59.25 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 6,277.75 and 6,215.35. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 declining ones on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were NMDC up by 1.10%, Jindal Steel up by 1.04%, Cairn India up by 0.99%, IDFC up 0.96% and RIL up by 0.70%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 4.35%, BHEL down by 3.58%, JP Associate down by 3.34%, Sun Pharma down by 3.20% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.32% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Nikkei plunged by 1.27%, Straits Times dropped 0.94%, Hang Seng shaved off 1.47%, Jakarta Composite dropped 0.89%, KLSE Composite declined 0.70%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.44% and Seoul Composite was trading lower by 0.77%.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite up by 0.92% was the only gainer amongst Asian pack.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 1.73%, Germany’s DAX dropped 2.45% and UK’s FTSE 100 lost 1.30%.