Indian Markets Close in Red

Mon, 23 Mar Closing

   03:30 pm   

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   Pre-Open   

   09:30 am   

   01:30 pm   

   11:30 am   

Indian markets continued its losing streak for the fourth consecutive trading day as BSE Sensex lost nearly 70 points. NSE-Nifty lost about 20 points before settling a tad above 8550 levels. Indices opened the day with gains of over 100 points, however, slipped in the red in the second session owing to investors' concern over Greece's bailout. BSE Mid Cap and BSE Small Cap weighed on the broader indices. While midcap stocks lost over 0.8% smallcap stocks lost over 1.25% in today's trading session. Selling pressure persisted across all the sectoral indices, barring auto companies and metals stocks. Auto stocks and metals sector gained slightly in today's trading session. Banks and IT were the biggest losers in today's session.

Commodities are trading with losses through the second session as gold prices, per 10 grams, fell about 0.2% or Rs 56 and is trading at Rs 26,150 levels. Silver prices, however, lost the most with over 1%. Per kilogram silver prices fell around Rs 350 and is trading at Rs 37,450 levels. Crude oil prices retreated from their session lows, however, are still trading with losses of over 2.5%. Crude oil prices fell nearly 2.6%. Comments provided by the Saudi Arabian government over not curbing its put alone on the oil production negatively affected investors. Per barrel, crude oil is available at Rs 2873 with a loss of Rs 75. Indian Rupee showed weakness after the Fed chief Janet Yellen provided encouraging comments over the issue of raising the interest rates. The Indian rupee fell 0.3% or 0.20 and is currently trading at Rs 62.27 against the U.S. Dollar.

European pared early gains and quickly seeped in the red as investors' sentiment towards the Greece's bailout weighed on the equity markets. German equities have cracked over 1% in its early trading session while French markets have lost about 0.9%.

Telecom companies traded predominantly in the red with two sole gainers namely Bharti Airtel and Tata Communications. This telecom auction, which concludes this week, is reportedly the most expensive auction that has taken place in India history. The spectrum auction has fetched over Rs 1 trillion to the Indian government. The major competitors, which include Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, have placed their bid for new ones and also to retain their present subscribers. According to a leading financial source, a price hike may be implemented from next financial year as massive debt has mounted over the telecom companies. The massive debt, which has amounted to $45 bn, is primarily because of the unlimited plans introduced by different companies. Shares of Airtel gained nearly 2% after such developments.

Banking sector was one of the leading losers in today's trading session. Bank of Baroda, the state-owned bank, today cut its deposit rate by 10 bps or 0.10% on those deposits that are less than Rs 1 crore. The bank decided to implement this change in rates on Domestic Term Deposits and NRO deposits. The rates has been reduced from 7.75% to 7.65%. These rates, however, will be applicable on fresh or new deposits taken place after March 24, 2015. These rates will be effective for a particular tenure which is between 181 and 270 days. Shares of Bank of Baroda closed 1.9% lower.