Indian equities trim losses; trade continues in red

Indian equities trim losses but continued its weak trade below neutral line amid lot of volatility in the late afternoon session taking clues from European counterparts. Besides, Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe against car makers for alleged restrictive and monopolistic trade practices, is also adding nervousness in the market. Traders were seen piling up position in IT, TECk and FMCG sector while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables, Bankex and Auto sector. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. The European Central Bank in its monthly bulletin report forecasted the euro zone economy to shrink 0.3% this year compared to the prior estimate of a 0.2% decline. Investors are also looking for some kind of quantitative easing from the central bank in Europe. On the home turf, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 5,350 and 17,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1090:1462 while 134 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,548.44, down by 12.43 points or 0.07% after touching a high of 17,589.30 and a low of 17,471.37. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 declining ones on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.09%, while Small cap index dropped by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.78%, TECk up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.62%, Oil & Gas up by 0.61% and Metal up by 0.38%. While, Consumer Durables down by 1.71%, Bankex down by 1.17%, Auto down by 1.07%, Realty down by 0.76% and PSU down by 0.52% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sterlite Industries up by 1.88%, HUL up by 1.49%, Hindalco Industries up by 1.44%, NTPC up by 1.06% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.02%. On the flip side, SBI down by 4.00%, Tata Motors down by 2.32%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.13%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.01% and BHEL down by 0.95% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) panel chaired by Parthasarathi Shome has agreed to submit its draft recommendations by August 31 and its report by September 30, 2012. The GAAR panel was set up by Prime Minister to deal with fresh consultations on the controversial tax issue.

The GAAR, which was proposed in the Budget 2012-13, and was postponed till April 2013 following strong opposition by foreign investors. The implementation was postponed by a year for wider consultation before bringing it into force. The first draft GAAR guidelines, prepared by the finance ministry, were placed in the public domain on June 29 to facilitate comments from various stakeholders.

Shome confirmed that the consultation process is very intense and it has met few policy makers and interacted with several international and domestic tax-advisory firms, and some concerned industrialists, with the aim to address the concerns faced them and elevate it to international guidelines standard.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,316.50, down by 6.45 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 5,330.10 and 5,294.10. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 3.31%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.97%, HUL up by 1.42%, Power Grid up by 1.39%, and Hindalco Industries up by 1.35%. On the flip side, SBI down by 3.83%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 3.49%, Bank of Baroda down by 3.01%, IDFC down by 2.55% and Axis Bank down by 2.47%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 0.97%, Jakarta Composite slid 0.15%, KLSE Composite down by 0.11%, Shanghai Composite inched lower by 0.24%, and Hang Seng descended 0.66%, while Straits Times added 0.17%, Kospi Composite Index up by 0.30%, Taiwan Weighted garnered 0.10%.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 descended 0.58%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.31% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 lost 0.11%.