Benchmarks trim losses; trade continues in red

Indian equities trimmed minor losses but continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters. The sentiments were on pessimistic mood from the early trade after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen stated that the US central bank might end its bond-buying programme and could start to raise interest rates around six months later. Traders were seen piling positions in IT, TECK and Consumer Durables stocks, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Realty and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Titan Company was trading firm after RBI yesterday allowed five domestic private sector banks to import gold, in what industry officials say could be a significant step towards easing of tough curbs on the metal imposed last year.

On the global front, the Asian markets 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 6,550 and 21,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1147:1447 while 170 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21807.45 down by 25.41 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 21853.25 and 21727.06. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index gained 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on BSE were, IT up by 2.40%, TECK up by 1.98%, Consumer Durables was up by 0.57% and HealthCare was up by 0.48%. On the other hand Capital Goods down by 1.57%, Realty down by 1.35%, Power down by 1.13%, Bankex down by 1.07% and PSU down by 0.94%, were the top losers on the sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.73%, HUL was up by 2.13%, Infosys was up by 1.99%, Wipro was up by 1.98% and Sun Pharma was up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Gail India down by 2.53%, BHEL down by 2.50%, Coal India down by 2.01%, L&T down by 1.86% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.81% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has suggested the Indian IT firms to diversify business in countries including China, Japan, South Korea and Africa instead of keeping focus on the US market. Admitting that domestic market has remained sluggish for industry with stagnant growth in the last two years, Nasscom President R Chandrashekar highlighted that it has become imperative for domestic IT firms to prepare country-specific strategies to tap the Asian and African markets. 

Nasscom projects Indian IT-BPO industry growth at 13-15 percent for 2014-15 and exports at same rate of 13-15 percent from $86 billion for 2013-14 to $97-99 billion by the next fiscal year. The size of the IT-BPO industry would grow from $108 billion in 2012-13 to $118 billion in 2013-14 with a stagnant $32-billion domestic market contribution.

R Chandrashekar further added that there is a downturn in the domestic market, generating a growth of only 10% in rupee terms. Further, political uncertainty, slowdown in policy and decision-making and macro- economic issues are the major challenges that the IT-BPO industry is facing. Meanwhile, in order to boost domestic IT market, Nasscom is focusing on some areas that needed immediate attention. On global front, Nasscom is stepping up efforts to improve business ties with China amid expectations of increasing IT spending by the Chinese government in order to make a major dent in the Chinese information technology (IT) market.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,507.75 down by 16.30 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 6,523.65 and 6,488.50. There were 15 stocks advancing against 33 declines while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 3.87%, Wipro up by 2.18%, HUL up by 2.15%, Infosys up by 2.06% and HCL Tech was up by 1.37%. On the flip side, DLF down by 3.08%, BHEL down by 2.84%, BPCL down by 2.72%, Ambuja Cements down by 2.51% and Bank of Baroda down by 2.40% were the top losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite was down by 1.40%, Hang Seng plunged by 1.79%, Jakarta Composite slumped by 2.61%, KLSE Composite was lower by 0.10%, Nikkei 225 declined by 1.65%, Straits Times lost 0.79%, Seoul Composite declined by 0.94% and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.06%.

The European markets were trading in red; France’s CAC 40 was down 0.51%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.41% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.38%.