Monday, the Indian market is trading weak amid mixed global cues. The market opened lower in line with the other Asian markets and has since then been trading in a narrow range on alternate bouts of buying and selling. The BSE index is now trading at 8,224, down 102 points or 1.22% and the S&P CNX Nifty is trading at 2,588, down 1.23%.
On the BSE, the market breadth is negative, with 835 decliners compared to 506 stocks that are gaining. The broad-based BSE 500 index is losing 0.91%, while the small-cap and the mid-cap indexes are down around 0.5% each. The BSE Sensex futures are trading at a discount of 208 points to the benchmark.
Stocks across the sectors are coming under selling pressure. Stocks of IT, oil/gas, consumer durable and FMCG companies are the major drags.
Twenty-seven out of 30 Sensex stocks are trading in the red, while HDFC, Ranbaxy Laboratories and HDFC Bank are bucking the declining trend and showing modest gains.
Among the major losers, Hindustan Unilever is losing 2.70%, Jaiprakash Associates is declining 2.30%, Bharti Airtel is down 2.07% and Wipro is moving down 1.97%.
Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Infosys Technologies, Hindalco, ITC, Tata Power and ONGC are the other major losers.
Satyam Computers is jumping 13.06% after it has set March 12 as the deadline for submitting bids to acquire a controlling stake in the company. Sterlite Industries is losing 2.14% after it agreed to buy bankrupt US copper miner Asarco for $1.7 billion. MTNL is up 0.33% on reports that it will soft-launch third-generation or 3G services in Mumbai by end-April.
Tata Steel is losing 0.51% even as steel sales of its Indian operations rose 47% to 584,000 tonnes in February year-over-year. Tata Consultancy Services is declining 2.25% on reports that it is laying off around 1,300 employees or 1 per cent of its global workforce this year.
Tata Motors is down 0.90% on reports that it may set up a new assembly line for its small car Nano in Pune. Eicher Motors is up 0.82% after VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Eicher Motors and Sweden's Volvo said the total sales of Eicher trucks and buses fell nearly 52% to 1,367 units in February year-over-year.
Kotak Mahindra Bank is rising 1.10% on reports that it is joining the race along with other international suitors to buy out the Indian operations of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Greenply Industries is trading flat after its board decided to raise Rs.750 million through a rights issue of securities including warrants. SpiceJet is surging up 13.46% on reports that it is in talks with the Wadia group-owned GoAir for either a merger or to acquire a controlling stake.
