Asian sharemarkets too are under pressure following negative US cues; Nikkei lost 2 percent and Hang Seng declined 1 percent, but China gained 0.7 percent despite February HSBC flash manufacturing PMI fell to seven-month low.

The preliminary China Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from HSBC/Markit for February fell to a seven-month low of 48.3 in February from January’s final reading of 49.5, as employment fell at the fastest pace in five years.

“The building-up of disinflationary pressures implies that the underlying momentum for manufacturing growth could be weakening,” said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, in comments accompanying the PMI data, reports Reuters.

“We believe Beijing policymakers should and can fine-tune policy to keep growth at a steady pace in the coming year.”

A day after coffee futures posted the biggest two-day gain in over a decade, C Rajendra Prasad, chairman and managing director, CCL Products, that produces numerous variants of coffee, says the company is on its way to see the best financial year ever. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Rajendra says that the company’s topline is expected to be around Rs 700 crore with a profit of Rs 70 crore. What is driving coffee prices higher, Rajendra says, is the dry Brazil weather.

“Arabica coffee prices are going up due to delayed monsoon. It is up by 20-25 percent in two-three months,??? he adds. Brazil accounts for a third of the world’s coffee and the reduction in supply has driven Standard & Poor’s GSCI Agriculture Index for its longest rally since 2011.

The Indian equity market seems to be in a consolidation mode currently, Vikas Khemani of Edelweiss Capital said. However, like most market experts, he sees chances of a market rally as we head towards the key domestic cue, the general elections, he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

On specific stocks, Infosys remains his top pick in IT space. According to him, one should maintain a balanced IT portfolio between large and midcap stocks . Meanwhile, he believes that some quality names in the banking sector are trading at attractive levels. He recommends market participants to buy private sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank at current levels.

markets of Geodesic and Shiv Vani Oil slumped 5 percent each in early trade, as London Court has asked both the companies to cough up hefty sums on defaulting foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB). As per the order, the IT firm has to pay USD 172 million and the oil & gas exploration firm has to pay USD 84 million by February-end. “The London Court has given a summary judgement in the case filed by the Bondholders through their Trustees, Citibank N.A., London (Citibank).

According to the judgement, the company has to pay to Citibank a sum of USD 157,064,251,” Geodesic said in a filing to the BSE. Geodesic has also been directed to pay over USD 14.88 million (Rs 92.5 crore) of unpaid default interest (up to and including February 7, 2014) and USD 39,266.06 (Rs 24.39 lakh) per day of default interest from February 8, 2014 to the date of payment.