Markets extend losses on high March WPI

Markets extended losses in noon trades on higher-than-estimated March WPI nos

Markets extended losses in noon trades on higher-than-estimated March WPI numbers. The wholesale price index for March came in at 5.7% as against analyst estimate between 5% and 5.2%. 

At 12.15 pm, the Sensex was at 22,426, down 200 points and the Nifty was at 6717, down 59 points. 

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(Last updated at 11.45 am)

 
Markets continued to trade lower in late morning trades weighed down by profit taking in rate sensitive shares ahead of the WPI numbers scheduled to be released at noon today. Further, market sentiment also dampened after foreign investors turned net sellers on Friday.

At 11:45AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 175 points at 22,454 after hitting an intra-day low of 22,420 and the 50-share Nifty was down 49 points at 6,728 after touching an intra-day low of 6,712.

As per the provisional data on the stock exchanges, FIIs were net sellers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 362 crore on Friday. Markets were closed for trading on Monday on account of Dr B R Ambedkar Jayanti.

The government will release inflation numbers based on consumer price inflation and wholesale price inflation for March later today.

Asian markets were trading lower, shrugging off encouraging data from the US, after recent economic data from China raised growth concerns. The Nikkei was up 0.5% and Straits Times was up nearly 1%. However, Shanghai COmposite and Hang Seng were down over 1% each.

The Indian rupee was trading lower at Rs 60.26 compared to the previous close of 60.17 on Friday. Traders also were cautious ahead of wholesale price index and consumer price index numbers due for release today.

Rate sensitive shares were down on worries that higher-than-expected inflation could result in rate hikes by the central bank at its next policy review.

Mortgage lender HDFC was down 3%. In the banking pack HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were down 0.4-1.5% each.

In the auto pack, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Mah&Mah, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were down 1-2.3% each.

Other Sensex losers include index heavyweights ITC and Reliance Industries.

IT majors continued to remain top Sensex gainers but came off their early highs after profit taking was seen in Infosys post its fourth quarter earnings announcement.

The company reported a better-than-expected 4.1% sequential growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,992 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 (Q4). Analysts, on an average, had expected profit of Rs 2,789 crore for the quarter. The company had reported a profit of Rs 2,875 crore in the December 2013 quarter. Meanwhile, the company has guided for a revenue growth of 7%-9% for the financial year 2014-15 (FY15). The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 43 per equity share for the financial ended March 31, 2014. Infosys which had surged over 4% in early trades was up 1.1%. Wipro and TCS were up 1-2% each.

" Infosysk is trading in uptrend so one should wait for a dip before making any long. Buy INFY around 3300 levels for the upside target of 3500-3550 in near term," says Mudit Goyal, technical analyst at SMC Global.

The broader markets remained subdued with both the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap trading flat with positive bias.

Market breadth was marginally down with 1157 losers and 1115 gainers on the BSE.