Sensex falls on global weakness, Power stocks rise on FSA
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The BSE Sensex slipped over 0.6% in early trade tracking weakness in global markets. At 09.20 am, the Sensex was down 108 points at 17,489 while the broader Nifty index was down 39 points at 5,320.
Asian markets traded lower tracking weakness on the Wall Street. Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) March meeting indicated that further bond buying might not happen. If that happens, investors would turn risk averse, which does not augur well for stock markets.
Japan's Nikkei (-1.7%) index led the losses for a second straight day. Overnight, the Dow Jones index declined 0.5% to 13,200.
Hopes of a rate cut later this month is the only trigger for markets going ahead because the March quarter earnings are likely to be subdued. "Low volumes are likely today with investors sitting on the sidelines. If RBI cuts rates, this rally could continue but on a fundamental level, this market is unlikely to go higher than 5,600-5,700," Sajiv Dhawan, MD, JV Capital Services told NDTV Profit.
13 of the 14 sectoral indices traded lower on the BSE. Power stocks (0.5%) rose after the government issued a presidential decree asking Coal India (-1.8%) to sign fuel supply agreement with power firms. Tata Power (2.1%), Reliance Power (1.6%) and NTPC (1.1%) led the gains on the Nifty index.
Banks (-0.9%), metals (-0.9%), realty (-0.9%) and capital goods (-1%) stocks led the declines. Gail India (-3.3%) was the top Nifty loser.
ICICI Bank, HDFC and SBI were the biggest drag on the Sensex. On the Nifty, 44 stocks traded lower. Jaiprakash Associates (-2.6%), SAIL (-2.2%) and L&T (-1.6%) were the big losers.
The market breadth was weak with only 35% stocks rising on the broader BSE 500 index.
