Benchmarks continue to trade in red in afternoon session

Indian bourses continued to trade in red in the afternoon session dragged down by selling witnessed in oil and gas, FMCG and capital goods stocks amid weak global cues. Sentiments got a hit after India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that this year’s southwest monsoon rains will be just below normal. Depreciation in rupee value coupled with the weak Asian cues and absence of any positive triggers also weighed on investors’ sentiments. However, gains in realty, metal and consumer durables stocks has restrained the market to extend losses. Banking stocks were trading up by over 0.40% amid better than expected earning of banks for Q4 FY14. The broader markets once again outperformed the benchmarks with both small and mid cap indices trading up by over 0.10%. On Stock specific movement, YES Bank was trading higher by 5% to Rs 463 after reporting a healthy 18.8% year on year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 430 crore Q4 FY14. Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has rallied nearly 4% to Rs 1,081 after global brokerages upgraded its rating on to outperform from neutral. Shares of Deepak Fertilisers and Chemicals were up 2% at around Rs 128 after the company announced that its arm acquired marginal stake in Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers. On global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red with Hang Seng down by 1.25% and Shanghai Composite down by 0.28% as global investors weighed escalating tensions in Ukraine, Japanese inflation data and corporate earnings. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,800 and 22,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,379 stocks traded, 1,133 stocks advanced, while 1,129 stocks declined on the BSE. The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 22,838.07 down by 38.47 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 22,939.31and 22,806.54. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.13%, while Small cap index up by 0.18%. The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.08%, Consumer Durables up by 1.31%, Metal up by 0.70%, Auto up by 0.47% and Bankex up by 0.44%. While, Oil and Gas down by 1.55%, FMCG down by 1.10%, Capital Goods down by 0.47%, IT down by 0.31% and Power down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.    The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 3.50%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.93%, BHEL up by 1.88%, HDFC up by 1.63% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.85%, HUL down by 1.69%, RIL down by 1.67%, ITC down by 1.49% and NTPC down by 1.27%. Meanwhile, the government has set a target of electricity generation of 1,023 billion units during the current financial year, which is about 5 percent higher than previous fiscal year target. Further, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) planned to achieve electricity generation of 252 billion units in the April-June period, while the target for each of the subsequent quarters is 257 billion units. As per the CEA, over 368 billion units may be generated from state utilities and over 393 billion units from central utilities, while the rest will generate from private entities.  Furthermore, it estimates that around 859 billion units of electricity will be generated by thermal power projects during 2014-15 out of which 784 billion units are expected to come from coal-based stations and the remaining 75 billion units from fuels such as diesel, lignite, naphtha and natural gas. However, target for hydel generation has been lowered to 124 billion units in current fiscal from 135 billion units in 2013-14. India produced 967 billion units of power during FY14, lower than the target of 975 billion units. Electricity in India is produced with the use of coal, crude oil, water and natural gas. Acute coal shortages in the country has become primary reason for power deficit in the country as coal-fired plants account for 68% of India's installed electricity capacity. India’s gas based installed capacity stands at nearly 8 percent at 20,000 MW of which around 6,000 MW is currently stranded because of unavailability of natural gas. The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,821.30 down by 19.50 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 6,869.85 and 6,818.20. There were only 21 stocks advancing against 29 declining on the index. The top gainers of the Nifty were M&M up by 3.35%, DLF up by 2.86%, Jindal Steel up by 1.99%, Dr Reddy’s Lab up by 1.84% and BHEL up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Cairn down by 4.92%, ACC down by 3.65%, Ambuja Cement down by 3.31%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.85% and BPCL down by 2.64% were the major losers on the index. Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng down by 1.25% to 22,281.39, Shanghai Composite down by 0.28% to 2,051.13, Straits Times was down by 0.43% to 3,269.90 and Taiwan Weighted down by 1.92% to 8,774.12. While, Nikkei 225 up by 0.14% to 14,425.84 and Jakarta Composite up by 0.39% to 4,909.96.