NEGATIVE TERRITORY

After opening into negative territory, Indian equity markets regained some lost ground and currently trading weak amid some selling pressure. Benchmarks fell in line with Asian peers as investors looked cautious ahead of a European Central Bank meeting tomorrow. Meanwhile, private sector lender Axis Bank tanked over 3% after the research firm Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight from equal weight. In currency markets, rupee depreciated against dollar on Wednesday due to strengthening of the American currency overseas. On sectoral front, stocks from metal, capital goods, power and banking sectors were still reeling under selling pressure. Healthcare, automobile and PSU stocks were also mostly trading lower. Information technology, oil and realty stocks are trading mixed. FMCG stocks were finding fairly good support. In global markets, Asian shares were also trading in red. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,216 shares on the gaining side against 1,138 shares on the losing side while 136 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 17,379.07 down by 61.80 points or 0.35% after touching a high of 17411.67 and low of 17356.03. There were 6 stocks advancing against 23 declines on the index, while one remain unchanged.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06% and Small cap index was up by 0.21%.

The only gainer on the BSE sectoral space was, FMCG up by 0.58%. While Metal down by 1.46%, CG down by 1.31% Power down by 0.92%, Bankex down by 0.78% and Auto down by 0.63% were the top losers on the sectoral space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.46%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.37%, HDFC Bank up by 0.78%, HDFC up by 0.72% and ITC up by 0.38%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel was down by 2.98%, BHEL was down by 2.70%, Tata Steel was down by 2.11%, Sterlite Industries was down by 1.82% and ICICI Bank down by 1.50%, were the top losers on the Sensex. 

Meanwhile, amid concerns about a ballooning fiscal deficit in the slowing economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram affirmed that the government will clamp down tax evasion and would achieve 2012/13 tax collection target of Rs 5,70,257 crore.

A slump in growth and a rising fuel subsidy bill have raised worries that the government may miss the fiscal deficit goal of 5.1% of GDP. In four months India has consumed half the deficit budgeted for the full fiscal year and finance ministry is now seeking ways to raise revenue.

Chidambaram confirmed that the government is planning to bring non-tax compliant firms under the tax net with an aim to reduce burden on tax receipts. He also added that the government would wait for the recommendations from government panel before deciding whether to issue a controversial tax demand to Vodafone for its $11 billion purchase of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian assets.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,248.70, down by 25.30 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 5,259.50 and 5,243.85. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.34%, HUL up by 1.48%, HDFC Bank up by 0.83%, HDFC up by 0.79% and BPCL up by 0.50%. On the flip side, AXIS Bank down by 3.37%, Jindal Steel down by 3.03%, BHEL down by 2.74%, Tata Steel down by 2.25% and Sesa Goa down by 2.03%, were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian indices were trading in red; Nikkei 225 down by 1.09%, Hang Seng index down by 1.44%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.15%, Kospi Composite Index down by 1.74%, Taiwan Weighted down by 1.13%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.55%, Straits Times down by 0.68% and KLSE Composite down by 0.68%.