Benchmarks trim losses; trade gyrates around neutral line

Indian equity markets trimmed losses and started gyrating around the neutral line in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters.  The sentiments were on pessimistic note from the early trade after the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) lowered India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.4% for this year from 5.7% projected earlier in September. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Consumer Durables and TECK sector while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Metal and Power sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda was trading in red 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 global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note while the European markets were trading mostly on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 8,300 and 27,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1330:1510 while 95 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27875.10, down by 40.78 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 27739.56 and 27980.93. 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 0.49%, while Small cap index up by 0.08%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.26%, Consumer Durables up by 0.82%, TECK up by 0.31%, Infra up by 0.23%, IT up by 0.13% while, Capital Goods down by 0.60%, Metal down by 0.56%, Power down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.32%, Bankex down by 0.24% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 5.11%, Axis Bank up by 2.69%, Hindalco up by 2.04%, Sun Pharma up by 1.93% and Infosys up by 1.07%. On the flip side, BHEL down by 1.88%, GAIL India down by 1.84%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.71%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.53% and SBI down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, assuring a transparent and rule-based policy environment, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promised reforms in labour, land acquisition and insurance laws to make regulations in India more business-friendly. Terming reforms as a long journey, Finance Minister added that the government is of the view of consistently pursuing the reforms agenda to boost the economic growth rather than taking one or two big bang steps.

By adding further, Arun Jaitley said that the government has introduced some labour reforms in Parliament which will be discussed in the upcoming winter session. The government is looking at changing some illogical provisions of land acquisition laws that have made it virtually impossible for companies to acquire land for industrial projects. On insurance sector, Jaitley expressed hope that the long-pending Insurance Amendment Bill, that seeks to raise FDI in the sector from existing 26 percent to 49 percent, will get Parliament nod in the upcoming Winter Session.

Finance Minister also stressed that the government may privatize some loss making public sector units (PSUs). India has 79 loss making PSUs, of which 49 are sick enterprises. On ambitious divestment programme, Jaitley said the government would push ahead with divestment of its stake in state-owned firms but will retain majority stake in such companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8340.20, up by 1.90 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8290.25 and 8360.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 5.80%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 5.20%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.17%, BPCL up by 3.02% and Axis Bank up by 2.63%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.05%, GAIL India down by 1.95%, BHEL down by 1.80%, Asian Paints down by 1.76% and NMDC down by 1.66% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; Straits Times increased 1.26 points or 0.04% to 3,292.22, KOSPI Index increased 3.39 points or 0.18% to 1,939.87, Taiwan Weighted increased 21.6 points or 0.24% to 8,912.62 and Nikkei 225 increased 87.9 points or 0.52% to 16,880.38.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 99.07 points or 0.42% to 23,550.24, Jakarta Composite decreased 43.65 points or 0.87% to 4,990.58, Shanghai Composite decreased 7.69 points or 0.32% to 2,418.17 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 4.44 points or 0.24% to 1,827.54.

The European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX increased 0.88 points or 0.01% to 9,378.29, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 26.97 points or 0.41% to 6,578.12 while, France’s CAC decreased 9.89 points or 0.23% to 4,217.79.