Indian shares edged lower in volatile trading on Tuesday after ratings agency Fitch downgraded India's credit outlook to 'negative' from 'stable', citing heightening risks to growth and the widening fiscal deficit. Global cues remain lackluster, with key benchmark indexes in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea posting modest losses, as rising Spanish and Italian bond yields reinforced views that the debt crisis in the eurozone is far from over.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex is currently down about 10 points or 0.1 percent at 16,696, while the broader Nifty index is down 9 points or 0.18 percent at 5,055.
Coal India is down half a percent on reports that it has entered into fuel supply agreements with 27 power units. Infosys is losing 0.8 percent on the buzz that it may cut guidance again due to the wild swings of global currencies.
Aviation stocks are losing ground after aviation companies agreed to reduce their airfares in the highest fare bracket on domestic routes. Kingfisher is tumbling 3.8 percent, Jet Airways is down 0.7 percent and SpiceJet is down nearly 2 percent. Non-banking finance companies REC and PFC are declining 2-3 percent after Fitch revised their outlook to negative.
Reliance Communication is down 4.8 percent to a 52-week low after equity research firm Veritas downgraded the stock to sell. DLF is declining 1.4 percent as the realty firm sought shareholder nod for sale of its wind energy unit.
Pantaloon Retail is rising 2.5 percent and Koutons Retail is moving up half a percent after Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser to the finance ministry, said it was politically prudent for the government to push through key reforms, including foreign direct investment in retail, in the next six months.
Engineers India is rising marginally, NMDC is up 0.6 percent and Oil India is gaining 1.4 percent after the government put up a list of 15 public sector units for disinvestment in the current fiscal.
MindTree is moving up 2 percent after VG Siddhartha, of Cafe Coffee Day fame, increased his stake the the mid-tier IT services firm to 22 percent from 18 percent earlier.
Telecom stocks such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular are trading narrowly mixed showing little change ahead of an empowered group of ministerial meeting on 21st to decide on 2G spectrum pricing.
India's benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty fell about 1.5 percent each on Monday after the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly held rates steady in a bid to curb inflation.
by RTT Staff Writer
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