Trades Turn Red Over IIP Numbers

The Indian markets turned into negative territory post the IIP data announcement. The IIP figure for the month of Sept 2012, came in at -0.4%, which was well below the street's expectations of around 3%. Further, the cumulative growth for the Apr-Sept 2012-13 period stands at 0.1% over the corresponding period last year. Among the sectoral indices, Capital Goods, Metals and Oil & Gas are trading lower by more than 0.60%, while Bankex, Consumer Durables and IT are in the positive territory.

In the peer Asian markets, Hang Seng and Shanghai were up by 0.15% and 0.49% respectively. Nikkei is still trading lower, down by almost 1%. Bloomberg reports said that Japan's GDP for the Sept quarter shrank by an annualised 3.5%. There were also reports that China's export growth exceeded forecasts and regulators announced steps to boost investment in equities.

Back home, Tata Steel is the worst performer, and the stock is down by 2.06% at Rs 382.50 per share. Auto stocks continued to slide, with names like Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors all trading lower. Tata Power, ITC, RIL and L&T are trading lower by over 1%. Other stocks like BHEL, HUL, Sun Pharma are among those trading marginally in the negatives.

Bharti Airtel is holding some of its morning gains, and the stock is up 1.14% to Rs 278.45 per share. IT names like TCS and Infosys are also trading higher by 0.72% and 0.38% respectively. This was after the rupee saw further depreciation against the dollar and is trading at 55/USD.

The market breadth has turned weak as of now. On the BSE, 1390 shares have declined, against 1157 shares which have advanced and 117 remain unchanged.