Indian markets slip in red

Thu, 30 Jan Closing

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   09:30 am   

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   01:30 pm   

Extending the losses even in the last hour of trade, Indian equity markets closed the day in red post the Fed announcement to trim its monthly bond purchasing program. Banking and metal stocks proved a major drag and witnessed maximum selling pressures. Also, the BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap stocks observed a drag and the respective indices stood lower by 1.1% and 1.5% respectively. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 149 points and the NSE-Nifty was seen down by 41 points.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices closed the day on a pessimistic note and most of the European indices too opened the day on a weak note. The rupee was trading at Rs 62.78 to the dollar at the time of writing.

Barring few such as TVS Motors, Tata Motors and M&M, all the remaining stocks from the Automobile space closed the day in red with Hero Motocorp and Escorts witnessing the maximum selling pressures.

As per leading financial news daily, the Hinduja Group flagship company, Ashok Leyland has widened its portfolio with the launch of new light commercial vehicles. Partner and MiTR are the latest offerings from the Ashok Leyland and the Nissan joint venture. With this launch, Ashok Leyland is now equipped with full line-up of products in the light commercial vehicle segment.

The CV industry has seen decline in volumes in 7 consecutive months now. There are hopes that this has bottomed out and that recovery should gather steam thereafter although the timing of the same remains uncertain. Against this backdrop, the new product launches will certainly augur well for the company.

Except IDBI Bank, all the stocks from the PSU banking space closed the day in red with Bank of India and Indian Bank witnessing the maximum selling pressures.

As per leading financial news daily, the public sector lender, Bank of India declared a disappointing earnings performance for the third quarter of FY14. Higher provisions dragged the profitability and the profits for the quarter fell by 27% YoY. The net interest income, on the other hand, grew 17.8% YoY during 3QFY14. The other income too increased to Rs 10.9 bn from Rs 9.4 bn a year ago. The gross NPAs were seen down to 2.81% in 3QFY14 from 2.93% in 3QFY13. Net NPAs also improved by 22 bps YoY and were seen at 1.8% levels. Slippages, however, stood higher during the quarter at Rs 17.5 bn as against Rs 14.7 bn. The restructured assets too were higher at Rs 11.5 bn as compared to Rs 8.6 bn on sequential basis. Provisions and contingencies jumped 53.3% YoY and the provision coverage ratio has improved to 63.8% during 3QFY14.