Bharti, SBI Drag Markets Into Negative

After opening on a higher note today, the Indian markets lost their gains immediately after the announcement of the Jun IIP numbers. Later in the day, the Sensex and Nifty both drifted into losses, down by over 0.11% and 0.28% respectively. The IIP figure for Jun 2012 came in below the markets' expectations at -1.8%.

Among the major sectoral gainers were Auto, FMCG, Metals and Capital Goods, which closed higher by 1.37%, 0.69%, 0.64% and 0.40% respectively. On the other hand, Oil & Gas, Teck, PSU, Bankex and CD closed lower in the range of 0.27%-0.99%.

Earlier in the day, all the Asian markets extended their gains and closed positive. China came out with a mixed set of economic data, which has kept the hopes alive for policy action needed to tackle the slowdown. The Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai finished up by 1.01%, 1.09% and 0.60% respectively. Investors are also quite hopeful on the central banks announcing stimulus measures.

The European markets have stepped back into marginal losses after opening positive, and are currently looking weak. The FTSE, DAX and CAC have taken marginal losses of 0.06%, 0.27% and 0.65% respectively. The inflation data announced by the Chinese officials today has left the door open for more monetary policy easing, which would keep the sentiments positive.

Dow Jones Futures is currently trading 17 points or 0.13% up at 13137, indicating a positive sentiment in the markets.

FMCG stocks were on the investors' radar today. HUL, ITC and Godrej Consumers closed higher by 2.38%, 1.51% and 0.64% respectively. Metals stocks continued to trade higher for the second consecutive day, up by 0.74%. Companies on the index like Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa and Hindustan Zinc ended up by 3.36%, 2.04% and 1.73% respectively.

Among the major losers, index heavyweights Bharti Airtel, SBI and RIL have extended the losses and closed down by 6.40%, 4.30% and 1.31% respectively. Tata Steel closed down by 0.5% as Moody's cut its UK business ratings and maintained its outlook at negative.

Pantaloon Retail fell by 0.5% to Rs 151 after the company announced its result Jun 2012 quarter results. The net profit declined significantly to Rs 6.8 crore versus that of Rs 18 crore reported in the previous quarter.

The market breadth, which indicates the overall health of the market, remained negative for today. Out of the 3246 stocks traded on the BSE, 1806 have declined, 1299 have advanced and 141 were unchanged.