Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

The Indian equity benchmarks extended their early losses on profit booking in frontline line blue-chip stocks and in absence of any positive triggers which could take the markets higher. The sentiments were dampened with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lowering India's GDP growth forecast to 5.4% for this year from 5.7% projected earlier in September. Besides, Credit rating agency, Moody’s Investor Service statement that the asset quality of state owned banks would continue to be burdened by weak financial health of Indian corporate, too weighed on the sentiment. However, gains in Realty and Consumer Durables stocks have supported the market to recover some of the losses. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1030.85 crore on November 05, 2014. In scrip specific development, shares of Bank of Baroda declined after reporting 5.46% fall in its net profit at Rs 1104.22 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 1168.10 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. On the other hand, shares of Ramco Cements rallied after reporting about five-fold jump in its standalone net profit to Rs 89.71 crore for the second quarter ended September on the back of cost reduction and improved realisation.

On the global front, Asian stock markets cheered a record close on Wall Street and talk of further stimulus efforts from the European Central Bank. Besides, Brent crude dropped for the second straight session, dragged below $83 by worries over the strong US dollar. Back home, Indian rupee fell 11 paise to 61.53 against the dollar in early trade due to increased demand for the US currency from importers.

The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2379 stocks traded, 1021 stocks advanced, while 1283 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27800.88 down by 115.00 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 27980.93 and 27739.56. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index declined by 0.50%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.19% and Consumer Durables up by 0.38%, while Metal down by 0.88%, Capital Goods down by 0.79%, Bankex down by 0.68%, Infrastructure down by 0.58%, PSU down by 0.55% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.83%, Cipla up by 1.12%, Sun Pharma up by 1.06%, Axis Bank up by 1.03% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.67%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.55%, GAIL India down by 1.46%, HDFC Bank down by 1.41% and Sesa Sterlite down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has lowered India's GDP growth forecast to 5.4% for this year from 5.7% projected earlier in September. Paris-based think tank, in its latest G20 economic outlook report, has revealed that global recovery continues at a moderate pace which could weigh on Indian economic growth prospect this year. However, growth will strengthen in India in coming year as investment picks up because of the improved political situation in the country.

The OECD expects the Indian economy to expand 6.4% next year and 6.6 % in 2016.  The report further added that pickup in growth after the sharp slowdown in 2012-13 will continue despite the tight monetary and fiscal stance. Further the factors like improved business sentiment resulting from reduced political uncertainty, deregulation of diesel and the government commitment to cut red tape are likely to boost economic growth.  The outlook also projects inflation to head lower in future.

Indian economic growth stayed below 5% for the second fiscal in a row at 4.7% during FY14. The factors like high interest rate and stubborn inflation, low investments and slow execution of infrastructure projects have impacted country’s economic growth.  However, the economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at its fastest pace in more than two years by 5.7% during the April-June quarter of current fiscal as compared to 4.7% growth recorded in same quarter last year.

On global front, the OECD has stated that global economic growth remains sluggish, but is expected to accelerate gradually if countries implement growth-supportive policies. According to the Outlook, global GDP growth is projected to reach at 3.3 % rate in 2014 and recover gradually to 3.7% in 2015 and 3.9% in 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8304.65 down by 33.65 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 8290.25 and 8360.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 4.10%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.37%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.18%, ACC up by 1.76% and BPCL up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.27%, Asian Paints down by 2.24%, NMDC down by 2.16%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.59% and Bank of Baroda down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in the green; Nikkei 225 soared 0.61%, Hang Seng improved 0.73%, KOSPI Index surged by 0.17%, Straits Times rose 0.24%, Shanghai Composite climbed 0.59%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI added 0.07% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.23%.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 0.50%.