Domestic bourses continue to wilt on subdued global cues

Global jitters continue to put pressure on local markets and benchmarks Sensex and Nifty have lost their crucial 17,500 and 5,250 mark in the early trade, respectively. After a previous two heartbreaking sessions, markets once again made a gap-down start amid global markets falling in response to Greece’s Prime Minister’s call for a national vote on an unpopular European plan to rescue that nation’s economy. Moreover, US markets sustained their choppy trade overnight while, Asian equities too have made a subdued start. On the domestic front, metal, realty and banking stocks witnessed the maximum selling pressure while oil and gas and healthcare stocks were bucking the trend. The broader indices also were struggling to get some traction while, the market breadth has made a positive start; there were 913 shares on the gaining side against 718 shares on the losing side while 47 shares remained unchanged. Meanwhile, PSU oil marketing companies viz. HPCL, BPCL and IOC were trading with decent gains of about a percent as crude oil prices tumbled for the third straight session overnight as investors took to risk aversion from risky asset classes like commodities amid fresh concerns about the Euro-zone debt crisis.

The BSE Sensex opened at 17,347.70; about 133 points lower compared to its previous closing of 17,480.83, and has touched a high and a low of 17,446.83 and 17,337.65 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 17,394.01, down by 86.82 points or 0.50%. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index.

However, the overall market breadth has made a positive start with 54.41% stocks advancing against 42.79% declines. The broader indices too were trading on the cautious note; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.04% while, Small cap index was up by 0.16%. 

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil and Gas up by 0.23% and HC up by 0.08%. While, Metal down by 1.35%, Realty down by 0.91%, Banking down by 0.86%, Auto down by 0.84% and CG down by 0.81% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were M&M up by 0.85%, Tata Power up by 0.64%, Sun Pharma up by 0.28%, RIL up by 0.24% and SBI was up by 0.13%.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.69%, Tata Motors down by 2.07%, Wipro down by 1.86%, Tata Steel down by 1.83% and Jindal Steel down by 1.78% were the top losers on the index.

Meanwhile, credit demand from sectors like Agricultures & Allied Activities increased by 7.9% in September 2011, which is less than achieved growth of 19.3% in September 2010. As per the data released by the Reserve Bank of India on sectoral deployment of bank credit, credit growth to NBFCs on a y-o-y basis in September 2011 at 46.2% was significantly higher than 18.5% in the previous year.

According the RBI data, credit to Industry (Micro & Small, Medium and Large )increased by 22.9% (y-o-y) in September 2011 as compared with 24.4% in the previous year, led by infrastructure, metals and metal products, engineering, gems and jewellery, petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels, and mining and quarrying.

During September 2011, food credit saw the highest growth, it surged by 35.5% to Rs 65,734 crore in September 2011 compare to Rs 48,525 crore in the same period of last year. On the other hand, on year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit increased by 18.7% in September 2011, same as in the previous year.

However, the credit demand from priority sector registered sharp decline in September 2011, it declined to 11.1% in September 2011 compared to growth of 19.1% in same period of previous year. However, service sector saw surge in demand for credit in September. Credit to the services sector increased by 19.3% (y-o-y) in September 2011, higher than 17.4% in the previous year.

In September 2011, the Personal loans surged by 15.2% (y-o-y), compared to the growth of 8.6% in same period of last year. Under personal loan segment, the credit to the commercial real estate (CRE) sector increased by 12.6% (y-o-y) in September 2011, which is higher than 7.9% in the same period of previous year.

“Most of the components of personal loans like housing, advances against fixed deposits, advances to individuals against shares, bonds, etc., and vehicle loans registered accelerated growth”, the RBI said in the statement.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,216.75; about 41 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,257.95, and has touched a high and a low of 5,246.60 and 5,204.95 respectively.

The index is currently trading at 5,233.65, down by 24.30 points or 0.46%. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were RCom up by 1.61%, Ranbaxy up by 0.97%, M&M up by 0.92%, BPCL up by 0.87% and GAIL up by 0.84%.

PNB down by 3.92%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.45%, Tata Motors down by 2.09%, Tata Steel by 1.89% and Wipro was down by 1.61%, were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Shanghai Composite was down 24.62 points or 1.00% to 2,445.40, Hang Seng was down 177.24 points or 0.92% to 19,192.72, KLSE Composite was down 11.33 points or 0.77% to 1,464.31, Nikkei 225 was down 143.72 points or 1.63% to 8,691.80, Seoul Composite was down 22.19 points or 1.16% to 1,887.44 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 56.66 points or 0.74% to 7,565.35.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up 0.75 points or 0.02% to 3,685.76 and Straits Times was up by 8.32 points or 0.30% to 2,797.67.