Benchmarks extend losses; Nifty below 8150 mark

Indian equity benchmarks added losses to continue their trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Confident over the improving macro-economic indicators of the country, Finance Ministry making a case for international rating agency Moody’s to upgrade the sovereign rating of India, too failed to arouse any buying interest on the street. Traders were seen piling up positions in Consumer Durables, FMCG and Power while selling was witnessed in IT, Oil & Gas and Realty sector stocks. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in tyre stocks as domestic rubber prices fell to a five-year low. In scrip specific development, ABB India was trading firm after parent company ABB stated that it would buy back $4 billion worth of shares.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets traded on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 8,150 and 27,300 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1536:1341 while 100 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27206.72, down by 113.13 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 27177.09 and 27328.27. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.41%, while Small cap index up by 0.18%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.49%, FMCG up by 0.35%, Power up by 0.30%, Auto up by 0.22%, Metal up by 0.06% while, IT down by 0.89%, Oil & Gas down by 0.74%, Realty down by 0.71%, TECK down by 0.59%, Bankex down by 0.48% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.38%, Coal India up by 1.36%, Tata Motors up by 0.88%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.56% and Tata Power up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.70%, ICICI Bank down by 1.61%, ONGC down by 1.53%, Wipro down by 1.19% and Infosys down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to bring in more clarity in the existing laws and give more protection to the Indian industry, Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that the government will come out with a policy on intellectual property rights (IPR) in next six months and set up a think tank on IPR to strengthen the country's patent regime and encourage innovation. Till now, there is no IPR policy in the country and the developed nations such as the US and European countries raised concerns on certain provisions of the Indian Patent Act leading to the rejection of patents filed by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Commerce Minister has asserted that the IPR policy will help in dealing with issues being raised by developed nations and protect interest of India on IPR related matters. The policy will also help modernise intellectual property administration and offices, commercialisation of IP, collaboration between different departments including science and technology, encourage innovation and enhance domestic filing of patents.

Regarding the set up of think tank on IPR, Nirmala Sitharaman stressed that a think tank on IPR will be formulated soon, which will enable the Commerce Ministry to handle the IPR issues more firmly. The think tank will have about 15-20 members on the IPR including professors, end-users and legal experts who will constantly keep the ministry informed about developments on international IPR issues and concerns.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8135.50, down by 38.40 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 8126.50 and 8174.55. There were 17 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Jindal Steel & Power up by 1.93%, Cipla up by 1.49%, Coal India up by 1.40%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.13% and Tata Motors up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.04%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.73%, ICICI Bank down by 1.69%, ONGC down by 1.63% and HCL Tech down by 1.58% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 0.1 points to 2,326.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 4.38 points or 0.23% to 1,875.47, Straits Times increased 9.29 points or 0.28% to 3,344.48, Taiwan Weighted increased 26.83 points or 0.29% to 9,434.77 and Nikkei 225 increased 44.04 points or 0.28% to 15,749.15.

On the other hand; Jakarta Composite decreased 42.91 points or 0.82% to 5,203.57 and KOSPI Index decreased 6.85 points or 0.33% to 2,049.41. Hong Kong market was closed on account of the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

The European markets was trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 20.71 points or 0.3% to 6,814.06, Germany’s DAX decreased 10.6 points or 0.11% to 9,747.43 and France’s CAC decreased 3.32 points or 0.07% to 4,471.61.