Markets continue to languish as banks, IT shares weigh

FMCG shares bucks trend, HUL, ITC among few gainers on Sensex

Markets continued to trade in the red with visible weakness in most of the sectors.  The Sensex touched a low of 19,419 and is now down 126 points at 19,439. Nifty is down 46 points at 5,868, shrugging off the Prime Miniter's comments about the recovery of the economy.

European stock markets opened mostly lower on Wednesday, tracking losses seen in Asia markets, as investors questioned whether the rally in global equities has been overdone. In Asia as well, markets ended lower with the Nikkei slipping 0.6% at 12,239. Shanghai stocks traded sharply lower for a second day, as investors assessed whether the economic outlook supported further gains.

Back in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said in the Lok Sabha that the economy will return back to high growth trajectory within the next 2-3 years. He also said that the GDP has slowed down in the last couple of years owing to several domestic as well as international factors.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley and HSBC each cut their India's economic growth forecasts for 2013/14 to 6% from 6.2% to reflect lower-than-expected growth in the October-December quarter.

HSBC says it expects 50 basis points of additional rate cuts in the calendar year 2013, and "a slightly more protracted recovery" in India.

Consumer Durables Index was the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE for the second straight session, down 1.2% at 6,932, after high inflation for the past few months has led to lower spends on consumer durables.

Financial shares were down after higher-than-expected industrial growth in January and retail inflation remaining in double digits for the third straight month diminished hopes of a rate cut by the central bank. CICI Bank was down 1.6% at RS 1104. HDFC Bank was down 0.7% at RS 639. SBI managed to hold on to some gains at Rs 2206.

In the auto segment, Tata Motors was down 1.5% at Rs 300 on reports that its key Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit posted lower-than-expected around 3% year-on-year (yoy) growth in retail volumes in February mainly due to a sharp decline in volumes in China.

The eight new stocks which are to debut on the FTSE Emerging Market Index have slipped in trades. These are YES Bank (-1.5%), NMDC (-0.6%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer (-0.5%), Godrej Consumer(-1.5%), Wockhardt (-4%), United Breweries (-0.1%), Shree Cement (-0.6%) and IndusInd Bank (-0.6%).

BSE market breadth is negative. Out of 2,864 stocks traded, 1,754 shares have declined while 972 shares have advanced.