Benchmarks trade flat in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading flat in afternoon session as the gains in banking, capital goods and consumer durables stocks were offset by selling witnessed in IT, teck and metal stocks. There was some cautiousness among investors as some blue chip companies including TCS and HCL posted weak Q2FY15 earnings. Further, capital outflow by FIIs in the previous session also weighed on the sentiments. Most of the blue chip stocks were trading in the red with M&M and Bharti as top losers on the BSE. IT stocks witnessed sharp selling as TCS posted 13.6% annual net profit growth in the July-September quarter, which is slightly below the street's expectation. However, markets' losses remained capped amid gains in consumer durables and FMCG stocks. Some support to markets came in from RBI Governor's statement that with the implementation of major reforms, Indian economic growth could pickup to 7% in the near future.

Shares of HCL Tech were down nearly 7% at Rs 1,546 after the IT major announced lower than expected revenue at Rs 8,735 crore for the first quarter ended September 2014. Shares of CMC dipped by 13% to Rs 1,886 after IT firm stated that it will be merged with the group firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Hang Seng up by 0.25% and Nikkei 225 down 1.21%. Asian stocks recovered some of this week's losses on Friday after a strong US data was posted, though underlying worries about slowing world economic growth kept investors on the edge. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 7,800 and 26,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,379 stocks traded, 904 stocks advanced, while 1,388 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26019.98, up by 20.64 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 25910.77 and 26085.16. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.10%, while Small cap index down by 0.75%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.32%, Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Consumer Durables up by 0.99%, FMCG up by 0.93% and Power up by 0.75%. On the other hand, IT down by 2.88%, TECK down by 1.80%, Metal down by 0.49%, Realty down by 0.41% and Oil & Gas down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.88%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.68%, BHEL up by 2.46%, SBI up by 1.74% and ICICI Bank up by 1.73%. On the flip side, TCS down by 7.50%, Tata Motors down by 2.23%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.03%, Hindalco down by 1.96% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country, President Pranab Mukherjee wooed Finland investors and suggested them to take optimum advantage of the 'Make in India' programme. Promising a business-friendly environment which is ‘predictable, facilitatory and transparent’ the President has asserted that India is fourth most attractive destination for FDI during 2014-16 owing to easing of restrictions, growth and investor friendly atmosphere promoted by the government.

Making a strong pitch for bringing in investments, Mukherjee said that India has emerged as one of the largest global economies and country’s FDI policy widely seen to be amongst the most liberal in the emerging economies, allowing up to 100 percent FDI under the automatic route in several of our sectors and activities. Regarding the safety to investors from global shocks, President stressed that resilience of our economy is evident from the fact that the impact of the global financial crisis has been far less severe in India as compared to the other countries.

On economic growth, Pranab Mukherjee  emphasized that though our GDP growth during the last two years at sub-five per cent was rather subdued, it was still higher than most major economies barring China. Indian economy has shown a sign of recovery and grew at 5.7 percent during the first quarter of 2014-15. The new Government in India is focused on growth and creation of employment opportunities and is taking measures to encourage investments, revive the manufacturing sector in India, promote skills development, and develop smart cities.

Finland's technology in areas such as IT, communications, energy, shipbuilding, manufacturing, biotechnology, environment, healthcare and infrastructure services is amongst the best in the world. An increase in investments from Finland investors will help India to take advantage from their expertise in these areas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7761.60, up by 13.40 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 7723.85 and 7769.45. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.88%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.52%, BHEL up by 2.41% and ICICI Bank up by 2.24%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 7.88%, TCS down by 7.40%, Tata Motors down by 2.40%, DLF down by 2.36% and Sesa Sterlite down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in red, Straits Times up by2.82 points or 0.09% to 3,157.03, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by12.49 points or 0.71% to 1,780.26, Jakarta Composite up by46.52 points or 0.94% to 4,998.14 and Hang Seng up by56.61 points or 0.25% to 22,957.55. While, Nikkei 225 down 178.57 points or 1.21% to 14,559.81, Taiwan Weighted down 120.81 points or 1.4% to 8,512.88, Shanghai Composite down 23.85 points or 1.01% to 2,332.65 and KOSPI Index down 18.17 points or 0.95% to 1,900.66