MARKETS TRADE LOWER

The Indian equity markets are trading in the red on the back of continued selling witnessed by foreign funds and retail investors amid weak cues from global equity indices. The US markets declined on Friday on reports that nonfarm payroll rose much lower than expected while, all the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite were trading in the negative terrain at this point of time, indicating somber investor sentiments. Back home, on the sectoral front, consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods and healthcare remained the top gainers while, software, technology and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. Meanwhile, Metal and mining stocks extended Friday's slide on reports that a panel of ministers has approved the draft Mining Bill, which calls for miners to give to local communities an amount equivalent to royalties so as to compensate people displaced by such projects. The broader indices were struggling to get some traction and were trading flat at this point of time while, the market breadth has made a positive start; there were 849 shares on the gaining side against 794 shares on the losing side while 77 shares remained unchanged. 
The BSE Sensex opened at 18,823.19; about 35 points lower compared to its previous closing of 18,858.04, and has touched a high and a low of 18,843.97 and 18,738.32 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 18,794.20, down by 63.84 points or 0.34%. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 declines on the index.
The overall market breadth has made a negative start with 49.36% stocks advancing against 46.16% declines. The broader indices were trading flat; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.07% and 0.02% respectively.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, CD up by 0.58%, FMCG up by 0.53%, HC up by 0.30% and Oil and Gas up by 0.10%. While, IT down by 1.33%, TECk down by 1.19%, Realty down by 0.90%, Bankex down by 0.86% and Metal down by 0.83% were the top losers on the index.
The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.08%, ITC up by 0.97%, ONGC up by 0.94%, M&M up by 0.86% and RCom was up by 0.51%.
On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.16%, BHEL down by 2.26%, Infosys down by 2.15%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.66% and Wipro down by 1.45% were the top losers on the index.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has urged public sector banks (PSBs) and financial institutions to retain their increasing non-performing assets (NPA) and devise strategies for containing and bringing down NPAs. He praised on the significant credit growth of 22.44% recorded by PSBs in the last financial year 2010-11. However, he also noticed that there has been a moderation in the last quarter. Net profits of PSBs have gone up from approximately Rs 39,000 crore to approximately Rs 45,000 crore in the year 2010-11. He sounded a note of caution to all in respect of asset quality.
During the last financial year, the non performing assets of PSBs has increased by 24.5%, the NPAs for financial year 2009-10 was around Rs 59,927 crore, which increased to Rs 74,617 crore in 2010-11. After the meeting with heads of PSBs, Finance Minister said, 'of course, it is an area of concern as gross NPAs have increased from March 2010 to March 2011. Gross NPAs have increased from Rs 59,927 crore to 74,617 crore.'
'Growth of NPAs was one item on which detailed discussions have taken place and I have suggested to the public sector bank CMDs that you must not only apply your due diligence for the fresh sanction of the loans but also ensure the mechanism through which the NPA growth could be stemmed,' finance minister added.
On the capital need for developing infrastructure in the country, finance minister has instructed public sector banks to increase the capital for the sector he said, banks need to sustain and improve the flow of credit to the sector. Banks should gain more headroom for lending to infrastructure projects by availing 'Takeout Finance' from IIFC.

However, on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) finance minister noted that public sector banks has surpassed the target of 20% for this year, SMEs sector loans has registered a growth of 35%. On agriculture sector credit, Mukherjee said against the target of flow of Rs 3,75,000 crore as agricultural credit in 2010-11, the achievement has been over Rs 4,46,000 crore.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 5,648.05; about 12 points lower compared to its previous closing of 5,660.65, and has touched a high and a low of 5,652.90 and 5,621.90 respectively.
The index is currently trading at 5,636.35, down by 24.30 points or 0.43%. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 declines on the index.
The top gainers of the Nifty were Ranbaxy up by 1.97%, Siemens up by 1.47%, ITC up by 1.15%, M&M up by 0.98% and Sun Pharma up by 0.80%.
Hindalco down by 2.92%, Infosys down by 1.86%, SAIL down by 1.83%, Maruti Suzuki by 1.79% and BHEL was down by 1.67%, were the major losers on the index.
All the Asian equity indices barring Shanghai Composite were trading in the red; Hang Seng was down 200.96 points or 0.88% to 22,525.47, Jakarta Composite was down 6.55 points or 0.16% to 3,997.15, KLSE Composite was down 9.41 points or 0.59% to 1,585.33, Nikkei 225 was down 60.12 points or 0.59% to 10,077.61, Straits Times was down 22.67 points or 0.72% to 3,128.61, Seoul Composite was down 20.47 points or 0.94% to 2,159.88 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 101.36 points or 1.16% to 8,648.19.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 2.41 points or 0.09% to 2,800.18