Markets recover from day's low, FMCG gains

Benchmark Indices have recovered from day’s low and have turned varied with Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone.

By 1130 hrs, the Sensex was up 7 points at 19,369 and the Nifty slipped 2 points to 5,849.

On the global front, Japan's Nikkei average advanced on Thursday following two straight days of losses as some exporters rebounded, but there was some caution ahead of the confirmation of Bank of Japan leadership nominees by parliament this week. The Nikkei rose 0.3% to 12,273.78 after hitting a 54-month intraday high of 12,461 on Tuesday.

Back home, the rupee today weakened by 10 paise to 54.40 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market due to increased demand for the US currency from oil importers.

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durable index has declined by almost 2% followed by counters like Auto, TECk, Healthcare, Capital Goods, Banks, IT, Metal and Oil & Gas, all falling between 0.04-1%. However, BSE FMCG, PSU and Realty indices are trading marginally positive.

Consumer Durables Index is the top loser among the sectoral indices on the BSE for the third straight session after high inflation for the past few months has led to lower spends on consumer durables. Gitanjali Gems, Titan Inds and Whirphool have declined between 1-3%.

From the Auto space, Tata Motors is down over 1%. Tata Motors global sales fell by 22.36% in February to 98,837 units over the same month in the previous year.

Banking and financial shares are 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.

The stocks of Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell in the morning trades following an expose by an online newspaper Cobrapost that these banks allegedly indulged in money laundering.

ICICI Bank stock was down by 1.38%, while HDFC Bank was down by 1.12%. Axis Bank was down by 1.74%. Cobrapost said the brazen criminal activity by these banks is channelizing vast amounts of black money into the regular banking system as laundered white money.  "Our investigation, conducted across dozens and dozens of branches of these banks and their insurance affiliates, across all five zones of the country, revealed these shocking facts that these money laundering practices are part of a standard set of procedures within these banks," the web site editor, Anirudha Bahal said in a news conference in New Delhi.

Other notable losers are GAIL, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and JSPL.

On the gaining side, Maruti Suzuki, HUL, SBI and BHEL are up between 1-2%.

Among other shares, National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is trading lower by 3.2% at Rs 44.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ahead of the government’s stake sale plan via Offer for Sale (OFS) route on Friday. The government, which holds 87.15% in the company, is likely to offer a 5% stake with an option to sell 5% more on March 15.

The broader indices are underperforming the benchmark indices. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have declined by nearly 0.5% each.

The market breadth in BSE remains unhealthy with 1,439 shares declining and 844 shares advancing.