Indian equities continue weak trade; Auto, Bankex and Metal drags

Indian equities added losses to continue its weak trade below neutral line amid lot of volatility in the late afternoon session on account of selling and taking clues from European counterparts. Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durable, Realty and Capital Goods sector while selling was witnessed in Auto, Bankex and Metal sector. Besides, inflation based on the monthly wholesale price index (WPI), for the month of July, is due for release on August 14, which will further determine the direction for the markets. On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red barring KLSE Composite and Straits Times while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note.  The weak Japanese economic data, which showed weaker-than-expected GDP growth in the second quarter tempered European investors’ optimism about ECB’s plans to tackle the euro zone crisis. 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 1184:1375 while 130 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17540.65 down by 17.09 points or 0.10% after touching a high of 17594.55 and low of 17522.10. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained by 0.01% while Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The top gainers on the BSE sectoral space were, Consumer Durable up 0.97%, Realty up by 0.92%, Capital Goods up by 0.64%, Oil & Gas up by 0.47% and Technology up by 0.20%, while Auto down by 0.80%, Bankex down by 0.51%, Metal down by 0.29%, Fast Moving Consumer Goods down by 0.08% and IT down by 0.04% were top losers on the index.

Maruti Suzuki up by 2.22%, HDFC up by 2.21%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.62%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.51% and BHEL up by 1.44% were major gainers on the Sensex, while Tata Motors down by 2.84%, Hindalco Industries down by 2.04%, Tata Steel down by 1.76%, ICICI Bank down by 1.61% and HUL down by 1.55% were major losers on the index.

Meanwhile, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Chairman, C Rangarajan, while delivering the second Ayyadevara HMA Foundation day lecture at Fapcci, affirmed that economic growth of India for this fiscal is likely to achieve atleast 8% growth by tackling inflation, reducing fiscal deficit and by focusing more on agriculture production and infrastructure.

He opined that sectors like agriculture and infrastructure, where power is a major aspect, play a major role in bringing down the inflation. He added that the increased farm production automatically brings down inflation to a large extent, while power sector also have a positive influence on the economy.

He also stated that aggressive policy action is needed to reduce petroleum subsidies for containing fiscal deficit at a budgeted level of 5.1 per of GDP in this financial year. The Centre's fiscal deficit had ballooned to 5.76 percent of GDP in the last fiscal due to high fuel subsidy outgo.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5313.35, down by 7.05 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 5,330.05 and 5309.05. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 declines on the index.

The top gainers on the Nifty were HDFC up by 2.28%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.85%, Sterlite Industries up by 1.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.55% and DLF up by 1.47%. While, Tata Motors down by 2.95%, Hindalco Industries down by 2.16%, JP Associates down by 1.86%, Tata Steel down by 1.85% and HUL down by 1.78% were top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian indices were trading in red; Kospi Composite Index declined by 0.72%, Nikkei 225 slid 0.07%, Jakarta Composite lost 0.71%, Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.06%, Hang Seng index shed 0.27% and Shanghai Composite plunged by 1.51% while KLSE Composite up by 0.13% and Straits Times added 0.32% were only the gainers.

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 descended 0.16%, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.12% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 lost 0.35%.