Benchmarks added losses in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks added losses to continue their weak trade in the afternoon session, hovering near the intra-day low level on account of sustained selling by funds, tracking weak global cues amid rising tension over Ukraine and signs of a slowdown in China. Investors also remained on the sidelines ahead of Wholesale Price Index-based (WPI-based) inflation numbers for February. Selling was broad based and depreciation in rupee value against the dollar also added to pessimistic sentiments. Barring healthcare, all sectoral indices on BSE were trading in red. Banking was the top losing index on BSE down by around 1.90% followed by capital goods and realty stock both down by over 1.10%. Metal stocks continued to trade in red amid concerns over prevailing economic downturn in China. China's industrial output rose 8.6 percent in the first two months of 2014 from a year earlier, missing market expectations.

L&T Finance Holdings, extending its previous day’s 7% fall on the BSE, has dipped nearly 5% to Rs 75.35, after the promoter Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) share sale programme for diluting 4.85% of its stake commenced today at bourses. Astra Zeneca shares gained 8.54 per cent to around Rs 1,156 as the company's board is meeting tomorrow to consider the delisting proposal.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in red with Nikkei 225 down by 3.34% and Shanghai Composite down by 1.06% amid subdued sentiments as Ukraine concerns resurfaced and Chinese economic data showing signs of slowdown. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,500 and 21,700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,306 stocks traded, 778 stocks advanced, while 1,411 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,642.84 down by 131.77 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 21,714.44 and 21,608.37. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.58%, while Small cap index down by 0.76%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.61%. While, Bankex down by 1.69%, Capital Goods down by 1.23%, Realty down by 1.15%, Consumer Durables down by  0.57% and Power down by 0.50% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.53%, Gail India up by 1.23%, Hero Motocorp up by 0.97%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.70% and Infosys up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Axis bank down by 2.33%, ICICI Bank down by 2.11%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.06%, SSLT down by 1.59% and Wipro down by 1.58%.

Meanwhile, India's coal imports increased by 20 percent to 11.6 million tonnes in February from a year earlier on account of fall in global coal prices and strengthen rupee. India`s reliance on foreign coal has grown over the years as domestic production has failed to grow in line with demand. During April-February FY'14, coal imports rose by 5 percent to 143.5 million tonnes. Indonesia is the biggest coal supplier to India having market share of more than 50 percent in country’s total coal imports.

India, despite being world's fifth largest in terms of reserves, the third-largest producer of coal has failed to keep pace with increasing domestic demand, making the country the world`s third-largest importer of the fuel. Indian domestic coal demand is around 35 percent higher than domestic supply, resulting into a high deficit of which a huge part is being met by costly imports from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. In the previous fiscal, India imported $16 billion worth of coal. Presently, Coal India (CIL) is the only producer of domestic coal accounting for around 80 percent of the domestic production. CIL is currently struggling to meet domestic coal requirement. CIL has recently noted that its production target of 475 million tonne (MT) coal for the current fiscal amid concerns like shutdown of mining activities in Talcher Coalfields in Odisha, and Cyclone Phailin.

Acute coal shortages in the country have become primary reason for power deficit as coal-fired plants account for 68% of India's installed electricity capacity. During the April-January FY'14, India`s coal-based power generation rose 8 percent to 587.64 billion kilowatt hour from a year earlier, which led to surge in coal imports by 31 percent to 66 million tonnes by power producers in the reported period.

In order to meet India’s growing coal demand, the government has planned to invite bids from private players to start coal mining in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode in the country, which would also end the monopoly of public sector unit Coal India. The government is likely to auction 10 coal blocks in the month of March this year

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,449 down by 44.10 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 6,472.95 and 6,436.70. There were only 20 stocks advancing against 30 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.88%, NMDC up by 1.31%, Gail up by 1.25%, Asian Paints up by 1.02% and Hero Motocorp up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Kotak Bank down by 2.92%, HCL Tech down by 2.66%, Indusind Bank down by 2.55%, Axis bank down by 2.30% and ICICI Bank down by 2.25% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 3.34% to 14,319.38, Hang Seng down by 1.20% to 21,493.97, Straits Times was down by 0.52% to 3,065.35. Shanghai Composite down by 1.06% to 1,996.91. Jakarta Composite down by around 0.75% to 4,690.52 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.69% to 8,687.63.