Weakness persist in equity markets; Nifty above 5,300 level

Indian equity markets with most of other Asian markets snapped a four-day rally on Friday and currently trading near low point of the day as China's July trade data fell far short of expectations. The Sensex was down 37 points, while Nifty down by 11.50 points. In currency markets, Indian rupee depreciated against American currency on Friday on the back of increasing dollar demand. On sectoral front, stocks from automobile, power, capital goods, metal and banking sectors were trading weak on selling pressure. Realty stocks, which found modest support early on in the session, are drifting lower now. Pharmaceuticals, information technology and FMCG stocks were off their highs. In global markets, Asian markets mostly trading down as China's July exports rose just 1% from a year earlier, undershooting forecasts by a big margin. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,113 shares on the gaining side against 1,197 shares on the losing side while 111 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,522.98, down by 37.89 points or 0.22% after touching a high of 17,563.46 and a low of 17,501.95. There were 9 stocks advancing against 19 declines on the index, while two remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.38%, FMCG up by 0.38%, TECk up by 0.36% and Oil & Gas up by 0.34%. While, CD down by 1.40%, Auto down by 1.14%, Power down by 0.61%, CG down by 0.58% and Bankex down by 0.53% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.20%, TCS up by 0.91%, Sterlite Industries up by 0.69%, ITC up by 0.47% and Reliance Industries up by 0.47%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.51%, Tata Motors down by 2.47%, Tata Power down by 1.39%, BHEL down by 1.32% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.24% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, after tyre companies, competition Watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has now shifted its focus to car makers for alleged restrictive and monopolistic trade practices. Further towards this development, the commission has initiated a probe against automobile companies for anti-competitive practice, which includes restricting dealers to sell rival brands and availability of spares to consumers, which in turn impact the prices and services provided to automobiles on use.

Complaints received by ministry of labour and employment on this score mainly triggered an investigation by competition watchdog, which last time imposed a hefty penalty of Rs 6307 crore on Cement companies guilty of cartelization. The commission will be investing whether auto dealers could diversify their offerings as per their customer’s choice. CCI besides looking into complaints on limiting access to services of automobiles to their ‘authorised outlets’ at exorbitant rates, will probe on the aspect whether the customers are able to received their insurance claims and other damages repaired only if done through the companies’ authorized service centre’s.

Further, towards the fag end of the last month, CCI also accused tyre companies on forming cartel. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) report on the matter alleged five tyre companies, controlling over 95% of the market share, too have acted in a concerted manner.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,311.40, up by 11.55 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 5,323.40 and 5,303.75. There were 17 stocks advancing against 32 declines on the index and one remained unchanged.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 1.38%, TCS up by 1.14%, Maruti up by 1.11%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.05% and Cairn up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Ranbaxy down by 2.60%, Tata Motors down by 2.51%, Reliance Infra down by 2.32%, IDFC down by 2.07% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.92%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down 0.97%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.13%, KLSE Composite down by 0.12%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.32%, Straits Times down by 0.22% and Hang Seng down by 0.89%, while Kospi Composite Index up 1.30%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.10%.