Benchmarks extend losses; Nifty slips below 8400 mark

Indian equity markets extend losses and continue to trade weak in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Investors took note of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report which stated that India’s economy will accelerate in 2015/16 but will fail to attain the heady growth rates of the past decade without sweeping structural reforms. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG, Capital Goods and Realty sector while selling was witnessed in Power, Oil & Gas and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Info Edge was trading in green after the company decided to infuse an additional investment of about Rs 185 crore in the shares of Zomato Media.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on mixed note while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,400 and 28,100 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1424:1481 while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28098.09, down by 65.20 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 28098.02 and 28294.01. 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 0.09%, while Small cap index up by 0.30%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.80%, Capital Goods up by 0.50%, Realty up by 0.41% while, Power down by 0.90%, PSU down by 0.88%, Oil & Gas down by 0.88%, Metal down by 0.81%, Infra down by 0.56% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.81%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.47%, Hindalco up by 1.35%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.01% and ITC up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.80%, Cipla down by 1.68%, Sun Pharma down by 1.66%, Gail India down by 1.47% and Coal India down by 1.45% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Coal Ministry is likely to issue draft rules for e-auction for 74 coal blocks, the rules will be put up for public consultation as well as stakeholder consultation too, it is being done to be fair to all the parties involved. The draft rules are expected to provide clarity on compensation and will pave way for a cap on tariffs levied.

Earlier, the government as per its plan to allocate coal blocks through auction by February next has asked the allottees of 74 mines to provide information about their fields by November 25. These 74 mines are part of those 204 coal blocks whose allocation to various companies since 1993 was quashed by the Supreme Court on the ground that they were done in an illegal manner.

The coal block allottees have been asked to provide details on environment clearance, production and land status. They have to submit copies of geological report and environment clearance and forest clearance, production details, status of land (mine and infrastructure) acquisition and details of capital investment. For determination of the valuation, the government would use data like year-wise and cumulative production till March 2014 and for FY15; cost of land acquired for mine and infrastructure; cost incurred on rehabilitation and re-settlement; details of operating costs including outsourcing costs etc.

The government had recently set up a high-level inter-ministerial committee to ensure the smooth allocation of 204 cancelled coal blocks and is planning to build a consensus on the modalities for coal block auctions. It will also consult stakeholders including industry associations like FICCI, CII, Assocham and coal and power producers' associations on ways to undertake coal block auctions.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8397.00, down by 28.90 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 8395.15 and 8455.65. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 2.27%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.89%, HCL Tech up by 1.52%, Zee Enterprises up by 1.40% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.38%, Cairn India down by 2.24%, Tata Motors down by 1.82%, Sun Pharma down by 1.77% and IDFC down by 1.69% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.19 points or 0.29% to 1,823.57, Jakarta Composite increased 18.47 points or 0.36% to 5,120.94, Straits Times increased 18.62 points or 0.56% to 3,332.35 and Taiwan Weighted increased 104.17 points or 1.18% to 8,963.24.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 155.86 points or 0.66% to 23,373.31, Nikkei 225 decreased 55.31 points or 0.32% to 17,288.75, Shanghai Composite decreased 5.38 points or 0.22% to 2,450.99 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.14 points or 0.01% to 1,966.87.

The European market were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 11.67 points or 0.17% to 6,697.46, France’s CAC decreased 6.25 points or 0.15% to 4,256.13 and Germany’s DAX decreased 1.97 points or 0.02% to 9,454.56.