Benchmarks trim losses; trade continues in red

Benchmarks trimmed their losses but continue to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of buying at lower levels taking cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were on optimistic note from early trades but selling crept in after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left key interest rates unchanged, as expected. The street however took note of Asian Development Bank (ADB) report which stated that India’s GDP is poised to accelerate to 5.5% in 2014-15 on the back of improved performance in industry and services but it may take some time for the country to reach its potential growth rate. Traders were seen piling positions in IT, TECK and Consumer Durables stocks while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Capital Goods and Realty sector stocks. Hectic activity was witnessed in fertilizer companies stocks on reports that Reliance Industries has agreed to continue supplying natural gas from its KG-D6 fields at the prevailing rate of $4.2 per unit to fertilizer companies. In scrip specific development, Educomp Solutions, a diversified education services provider, was trading firm on reports that a large US-based strategic acquirer is in fairly advanced talks to buy majority shares in the company. Kalpataru Power Transmission was trading in green on bagging orders worth over Rs 700 crore.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green, while the European markets were too trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,700 and 22,400 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1341:1183 while 140 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22378.33, down by 7.94 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 22485.77 and 22295.65. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.14%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.75%, TECK up by 1.27%, Consumer Durables up by 1.24%, Oil & Gas up by 0.74% and HealthCare up by 0.44%. While, Bankex down by 1.34%, Capital Goods down by 1.11%, Realty down by 1.05%, FMCG down by 0.32% and PSU down by 0.21% were the losing indices on BSE.   

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.60%, TCS up by 2.36%, SSLT up by 2.31%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.94% and Tata Steel up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 2.36%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02%, HDFC Bank down by 1.85%, SBI down by 1.69% and ICICI Bank down by 1.64%.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that country’s current account deficit (CAD) is likely to be $35 billion in FY14 much lower than about $88 billion recorded in the previous fiscal year.

During the April-December’FY14, CAD stands at $31.1 billion (2.3% of GDP) versus $69.8 billion (5.2% of GDP) reported in the same period of previous fiscal year mainly driven by a sharp decline in the trade deficit as merchandise exports picked up and imports moderated, particularly gold imports. Trade deficit during the period April-February’FY14, declined to $128.09 billion as against $179.93 billion in the same period of previous fiscal year. The significant curtailing of country’s CAD has eased some pressure on the macro-economic front as it is a major macro-economic problem which has created huge volatility in the domestic equity markets and currency.

Finance Minister also added that Indian economy is now more stable position than 20 months ago. The  fundamental of economy are strong and there would not be a case of downgrade by global rating agencies. The government projected India’s GDP growth at 4.9 percent for the current fiscal.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,699.40, down by 4.80 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 6,732.25 and 6,675.45. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn India up by 3.06%, Power Grid up by 2.86%, Wipro up by 2.56%, SSLT up by 2.23% and TCS up by 2.13%. On the flip side, Kotak Bank down by 3.08%, BPCL down by 3.00%, Hindalco down by 2.12%, Asian Paints down by 2.08%, and Maruti Suzuki down by 2.02% were the major losers on the index.

Asian equity indices were in green; Straits Times was up by 0.36%, Jakarta Composite up by 2.12%, Hang Seng was up by 1.34%, Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.27%, KOSPI Composite was up 0.32% and Shanghai Composite up by 0.70% while, Nikkei 225 down by 0.24% and KLSE Composite was down by 0.22% were the only losers.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.54%, Germany’s DAX added 0.38% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.40%.