Indian Markets extend Sell-Off

Fri, 20 Mar 09:30 am

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   Pre-Open   

   01:30 pm   

   03:30 pm   

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Asian stocks trade with minor gains as investor sentiments towards Asian equities have turned mixed after a profit booking session on Wall Street. The U.S market closed yesterday's session mixed, retreating from Fed's rally because of profit booking. European equities too witnessed a volatile session, however, ended mixed with the German markets ending the day with moderate losses of 0.2% while FTSE registered a gain of 0.25%. Asian stock markets tradedmixed with Chinese stocks trading in the green with gains of 0.4% while Japanese, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korean markets trading with moderate losses of 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.

Indian markets have extended yesterday's profit booking as BSE-Sensex fell over 85 points while NSE-Nifty fell over 25 points. S&P BSE Midcap and S&P BSE Smallcap have opened mixed with midcap stocks losing just 7 points and smallcap stocks witnessing a gain of 5 points. Healthcare sector is the biggest gainer in today's trading session.

Commodity markets continued to gain more than 1% for the second straight day. Gold prices increased nearly 1.25% or Rs 320 and is currently trading above Rs 25,950 levels per 10 grams. Strong positive movements were seen in silver prices as it increased more than 2.5% or Rs 1000 per kilogram and is trading at around Rs 36,340 levels. Crude oil prices followed suit and have gained more than 1.5% or Rs 50 and per barrel is trading at Rs 2,870. Indian Rupee has opened today's trading session with minor gains of 0.05% or 0.03 and is currently trading at Rs 62.54 against the U.S. Dollar.

Automobile companies have extended the sell-off. According to a leading financial daily, Tata Motors is all set to introduce at least 6 utility vehicles to regain the lost share. The company's performance in the domestic space has been dismal, however, has been above expectation. The company is planning to introduce Premium Crossover, Sub-4 metre SUV, Rugged SUV and Premium SUV till 2016 and second half of 2017. Tata Motors reportedly lost its market segment of affordable cars to Mahindra & Mahindra. Shares of Tata Motors fell nearly 1.5%.

Information Technology stocks have gained moderately. IT major Wipro bagged a 5 – year deal from a US based utility company named Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW). The financial details were not disclosed. Wipro will take care of GCWW's Customer Relationship Management process which will include billing and service bureau operations. GCWW is provider of 113 million gallons of water to 1 million people across Ohio and Kentucky. Shares of Wipro have gained 0.7%.