February 12: mid-session report

The Indian markets witnessed another bout of sell-off after early opening in green. Benchmark indices could not sustain at higher levels as bearish trend grips markets. The selling came in from capital goods sector as poor results from BEHL dragged the entire indices into negative zone. BSE Capital Goods Index was down 3.95 per cent led by steep declines in BHEL, Crompton Greaves and IL&FS Transport.

Nifty was trading down by more than 58 points at 6917 and the Sensex by 186.06 points at 22,765. Both the leading indicators were down 0.83 and 0.82 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed the same trend as most of the stocks traded in red. 1886 scrips were trading in the negative territory, 387 scrips were in the green, however 98 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE. 

Top Nifty Gainers: Tata Motors is leading the gainers list as it was trading up by close to 4.5 per cent followed by Idea Cellular, Power Grid, NTPC and M&M which were up 2.13, 1.87, 1.78 and 1.62 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: BHEL is leading the losers list down more than 11 per cent, followed by Adani Ports & SEZ, Hindalco Industries, Bharat Petroleum and PNB which are down anywhere between 6.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

All the major sectors were trading in red apart from BSE FMCG which was up marginally by 0.16 per cent. BSE Capital Goods was the top loser as it was down 3.95 per cent. Followed by BSE Oil & Gas and BSE Healthcare, which were trading down by 3.65 and 2.83 respectively. BSE Small-Caps witnessed deep cuts as it was down 3.50 per cent. BSE Mid -Cap index too was trading in the negative territory by 2.46 per cent.

Chinese benchmark index CSI was closed on account of Lunar Holiday. Two major Asian Indices Japanese Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were down by 4.84 and 1 per cent respectively. Korean KOSPI and Singapore’s Straight Times were trading in red with minor losses.

In commodities, Oil tumbled to lowest level in more than 12 years as crude stockpiles at the delivery point for New York futures expanded to a record. Gold and silver after inching higher in the last few days also saw a decline.

Buzzer: - BHEL was buzzing in trade as it was trading down 12 per cent to Rs 105 owing to dismal Q3 numbers posted by the company. M&M too was down 2 per cent as results came in.

Global markets descended into a bear market. Europe’s benchmark was at its lowest point since 2013 also MSCI All-Country World Index was down  20 percent from a record high reached in May. Taking ques from the global equity markets domestic markets too couldn’t resist the frenzy.

Second half doesn’t seem to indicate any respite from the equity market rout as major European indices are expected to open in red. Domestically results are expected from all the major OMCs like Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL. Heavy weight Adani Ports & SEZ and Sun Pharma are expected to present their respective Q3 report cards.