Benchmarks extend losses; Metal, Auto, and CG drags

Indian equities continued to trade weak in the late morning session. On the global front, all the Asian counters were trading in the red ahead of a key German ruling on the euro zone's bailout funds and the US Federal Reserve's policy decision. Back home the traders were seen piling up position in HC, Oil & Gas and IT sector, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Auto and CG sector. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Cipla, and Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals from HC pack were seen trading in green edging the markets higher. RIL, ONGC, Gail India, Cairn India, BPCL and Indian Oil Corp from Oil & Gas pack were seen trading firm in green. Auto majors Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, and Hero MotoCorp too were pressurizing the markets.  Meanwhile, metal stocks remained the biggest underperformers as the Goa mining ban adversely affected companies like Sesa Goa, Sterlite Industries, However, aviation stocks like Kingfisher, Jet Air India and Spicejet all edged higher after Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh had written to the Oil Ministry on declaring aviation turbine fuel (ATF) as a notified product, which may decrease the burden of fuel cost on airlines.

In the scrip specific development, Technofab Engineering rose on securing order worth Rs 95 crore. Mahindra Satyam gained on launching HealthConnection. Asian Oilfield jumped on securing contract worth $4.20 million.

The NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were managing to hold their psychological 5300 and 17700 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, in the ratio of 1067:894.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17708.81 down by 57.97 points or 0.33% after touching a high of 17755.56 and low of 17677.38. 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 0.12% and Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

On the BSE sectoral space, HC up by 0.58%, Oil & Gas up by 0.04%, IT up by 0.02%, PSU up by 0.01% and FMCG up by 0.01% were the gainers. While, Metal down by 1.90%, Auto down by 0.69%, CG down by 0.64%, Bankex down by 0.51% and Realty down by 0.35% were the losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Gail India up by 1.25%, Sun Pharma up by 1.05%, BHEL up by 0.83%, ONGC up by 0.67% and HDFC up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Sterlite Industries down by 4.73%, Hero Moto Corp down by 2.50%, Jindal Steel down by 2.23%, Tata Steel down by 1.40% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.11% were the losers on the Sensex.  

Mean while, the state government of Goa has issued a notification suspending all mining operations in the state. The decision has come following the indictment of former chief minister Digambar Kamat by the Shah commission, which inquired the illegal mining in the state. The government has stated that this has been done to scrutinise clearances obtained by the leaseholders and not to allow continuation of operations without verification of requisite approvals in the coming mining season. The government has also stated that those mines found to be carrying out mining with proper documents will be allowed to resume operations for rest of the mining season after scrutiny of documents.

The government has also made clear that the suspension of mining operations, shall not affect trade and transportation of the ore mined and existing in the leasehold area, in transit or stored or stocked on the jetties. The leaseholders or traders who have procured such quantities of ore have been asked to report the exact quantum of ore with grade and other details of ore and location of the extract, within a period of seven days to the mines director.

Goa has around 90 operational mines of the existing 337 mining leases. The Shah commission, which was constituted by the Centre to look into illegal mining in various States, reported blatant illegalities in the mining sector in Goa and has pointed out that the losses incurred by the state exchequer between 2006-11 was Rs 35,000 crore.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,341.65, down by 21.80 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 5,354.55 and 5,332.10. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were BPCL up by 1.90%, Sun Pharma up by 1.13%, GAIL up by 1.03%, Grasim up by 0.68% and ACC up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Sesa Goa down by 5.45%, , Sterlite Industries down by 4.77%, Hero Moto Co down by 2.56%, Jindal Steel down by 2.41% and Reliance Infra down by 2.09% were the losers on the index.

All the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 0.87%, Straits Times down by 0.01%, KLSE Composite down by 1.10%, Kospi Composite Index down by 0.34%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.60%, Hang Seng index down by 0.69%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.01% and Shanghai Composite down by 0.91% were the losers.