Markets end deep in the red

Thu, 21 Nov Closing

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The Indian equity markets continued to bleed towards the close on account of persistent selling pressures. The hint of taper coming from Fed has induced great nervousness across global markets and domestic markets. All the sectoral indices have closed the day in red with the stocks from the Banks and Capital goods sectors having faced the maximum selling pressures today. Both mid-cap and small-cap indices closed the day on a weak note and were down by 1.2% and 0.9% respectively. The BSE Sensex closed lower by 406 points and the NSE-Nifty was seen down by 124 points.

With respect to global markets, except Nikkei all the Asian indices have closed the day in red. European indices too have opened weak today. The rupee was trading at Rs 62.92 to the dollar at the time of writing.

All the PSU bank stocks closed the day in red with Bank of India, Canara Bank and Union bank having faced the maximum selling pressures today.

According to a leading financial daily, four states; namely; Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are set to begin the restructuring process of their DISCOMs. These states have taken short-term liabilities worth Rs 430 bn from their power distribution companies as part of the Government's loan rejig program. And now these states are also in talks with various financial institutions for the issuance of bonds. Going back, a year ago, the Government had cleared a financial restructuring plan in order to revive the ailing State electricity boards. Under the scheme, it was decided that 50% of the short-term liabilities would be taken over by the State Government. And the remaining 50% would be restructured by providing a moratorium on principle and easier terms of repayments. The outstanding liabilities of the State discoms stood at about Rs 1.9 lakh crore as on March 2011 and Rs 2.46 lakh crore till March 2012.

This comes as a positive measure for the lenders with maximum exposure to State DISCOMs. Public sector banks have lent heavily to such DISCOMs besides few financial institutions. Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union bank of India and Corporation bank with significant exposures to State Discoms should stand to benefit.

Except Mah. Scooters, Escorts and Maruti Suzuki, all the stocks from the Automobiles sector have ended the day today on a weak note with Tube Investments and Ashok Leyland having faced the maximum selling pressures.

As reported by the Business Line, commercial vehicles major Tata Motors has increased market share by as much as 6% in medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment despite the slowdown. In fact, the company expects modest growth in the construction and mining sector in the coming future. During 1HFY14, the company had market share of about 60% as compared to 54% last year. It would be fair to assume that the company is selling lesser number of construction vehicles as compared to last year, on a relative basis i.e. in comparison to its peers, the decline has been lower, which has led to a increase in market share on a YoY basis. During the quarter ended September 2013, the company's commercial vehicles volume sales fell by 25% YoY. As per the company's management, Tata Motors has been launching newer, more efficient products in order to maintain market share.

Tata Motors' share was down today by 0.5%.