Benchmarks add losses; Nifty slips below 8500 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the late morning session, with the Sensex losing over 100 points and Nifty falling below the 8500 level, weighed down by Realty, METAL and Power stocks ahead of the expiry of futures and options contract on coming Thursday. Sentiment on the street weakened as Investors turn cautious ahead of key economic data due later in November. The government will issue gross domestic product (GDP) data for the September quarter and fiscal deficit data for October on November 28, 2014. Furthermore, mixed global cues coupled with rupee's depreciation against the US dollar also weighed on the sentiment. However, losses remained capped as some respite came in from news that the government is hopeful of getting the GST Constitutional Amendment Bill passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament so that the new tax regime could be rolled out by April 1, 2016. Some support also came in from reports that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 407.42 crore on November 24, 2014.

In scrip specific development, shares of Bharti Airtel have gained after the company signed an agreement with American Tower Company (ATC) to sell about 4,800 of its telecom towers in Nigeria, as part of a debt-reduction exercise. On the flip side, Shares of Power Grid Corporation of India declined as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) put restrictions on further purchases of shares of the company by foreign investors.

The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from November to December 2014 series. On the global front, Asian shares were trading mixed as the boost from China's surprise interest rate cuts faded and investors awaited U.S. economic data and an OPEC meeting.

Back home, Indian rupee breached the 62-mark by falling 7 paise to 62.01 against the US dollar in early trade due to appreciation of the greenback against other currencies overseas. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2428 stocks traded, 557 stocks advanced, while 1813 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28372.18 down by 127.36 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 28541.22 and 28326.67. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.45%, while Small cap index down by 1.92%.

The only gaining sectoral Index on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.45%, while Realty down by 3.00%, Metal down by 2.55%, Power down by 2.10%, Infrastructure down by 2.05% and Consumer Durables down by 2.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were BHEL up by 1.44%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.88%, HDFC up by 0.86%, ITC up by 0.69% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 2.89%, Hindalco down by 2.87%, Tata Steel down by 2.53%, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.31% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, A new super-regulator governing telecom, information technology and broadcast is on the anvil, as the Centre has finalised the broad outline for appointing a new super-regulator governing these sectors. The proposed super regulator which is slated to be christened Communications Commission will repeal four existing Acts, including the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997. 

The proposed Communications Commission will comprise a Chairperson and six members who should have proven professional experience in telecom, broadcasting, finance, accountancy, law or consumer affairs and it will be given wider powers, including spectrum management. However, the Government plans to insert a clause in the proposed Bill that will give it powers to overrule the regulator at any time.

If passed into law, the bill will also replace the existing Broadcast Bill and the Cable TV Network (Registration) Act of 1995.One of the key regulatory principles listed in the Bill is the way interconnection charges will be applied between telecom operators and content providers.

The draft Convergence Bill to create a communications commission to handle the regulatory and licensing functions in areas of telecom, broadcasting and Internet was proposed by a committee headed by eminent lawyer Fali.S. Nariman last May and it apart from setting up a Communications Commission will also incorporate most of the suggestions on content and carriage regulations as proposed in the draft Information, Communications and Entertainment Bill, 2000.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8,469.25 down by 60.90 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 8,535.35 and 8,461.65. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 1.74%, BHEL up by 1.57%, HDFC up by 0.99%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.84% and ITC up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Jindal Steel & Power down by 4.03%, Power Grid down by 3.65%, DLF down by 3.46%, NMDC down by 3.01% and Hindalco down by 2.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 soared 0.30%, Shanghai Composite added 0.78%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI strengthened by 0.30% and Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Hang Seng dropped by 0.16%, KOSPI Index slipped 0.06%, Straits Times contracted by 0.04% and Jakarta Composite was down by 0.31%.