Markets continue to trade flat in late afternoon session

Indian bourses continued to trade flat with negative bias in late afternoon session amid positive global cues. Since morning, domestic benchmarks exhibited range bound trade as gain in realty, FMCG and metal stocks was offset by selling witnessed in IT, tech stocks. Shares of IT were under pressure, as investors remained cautious ahead of the key US jobs report, which is scheduled to be released later during the day. However, most of major sectoral indices on BSE were trading in positive territory with realty as top gaining index trading up by around 2.40%. Investors were piling up position in realty stocks as the government has relaxed FDI policy for the sector by easing exit norms and reducing built-up area and capital needs. Buying also continued in broader indices as both the mid cap and small cap indices trading down by over 0.35%.

In stock specific movement, NBCC was trading around 4% higher to Rs 914 after the company said it has signed a general MOU with Air India for undertaking development of land parcels of Air India at various locations on joint venture basis. Shares in Infosys were trading lower by nearly 2% to Rs 2,065, extending its past three-day’s fall, after the stock turned ex-bonus on Tuesday, December 2.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in green with Nikkei 225 up by 0.19% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.32%. European Markets also made positive opening Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,500 and 28,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,881 stocks traded, 1,484 stocks advanced, while 1,296 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28528.21, down by 34.61 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 28491.06 and 28651.75. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.35%, while Small cap index up by 0.84%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.13%, FMCG up by 0.98%, Metal up by 0.59%, Consumer Durables up by 0.57% and Capital Goods up by 0.51%. On the flip side, IT down by 1.61%, TECK down by 1.22%, Oil & Gas down by 0.40% and PSU down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sesa Sterlite up by 2.45%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.07%, ITC up by 1.63%, Tata Power up by 0.78% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.76%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.00%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.97%, Infosys down by 1.50%, Wipro down by 1.38% and Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance the domestic coal production, Coal Ministry has planned to launch soon an electronic platform to address all regulatory hurdles related to coal mines. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has asserted that the platform will help Coal India to enhance the country's coal production to about 1.4 billion tonnes over the next five years.

Anil Swarup further added that the government is presently considering various issues that would come in the way of ramping up the production both in terms of environment clearance and land acquisition. Coal Secretary also expressed hope that three prominent rail lines proposed to directly connect with coal mines in states such as Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh would be completed by December 2017.

In other encouraging development, Coal Ministry might put 18 more blocks on offer, in addition to the 74 already planned, in the upcoming auction of the mines. The government plans to conclude the first phase of allocation of coal blocks through allotment and auction by March 16, 2015. Of the total 92 blocks, some coal blocks will be allotted to state-run companies while others will be auctioned electronically for private players.

Indian domestic coal demand is around 35 percent higher than domestic supply. Coal India (CIL) is the only producer of coal in the country and is struggling to meet domestic coal requirements. CIL production fell 4.21 percent short of its production target to 462.53 million tonnes in FY14 amid concerns like shutdown of mining activities in Talcher Coalfields in Odisha.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8556.80, down by 7.60 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8545.50 and 8588.35. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 4.34%, Sesa Sterlite up by 2.78%,  Ambuja Cement up by 2.70%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.24% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.78%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.09%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.98%, Wipro down by 1.70% and Infosys down by 1.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in green, KOSPI Index up by 0.01 points or 0% to 1,986.62, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by 5.03 points or 0.29% to 1,750.72, Straits Times up by 10.49 points or 0.32% to 3,315.31, Jakarta Composite up by 17.63 points or 0.34% to 5,194.79, Nikkei 225 up by 33.24 points or 0.19% to 17,920.45, Shanghai Composite up by 38.19 points or 1.32% to 2,937.65 and Hang Seng up by 170.08 points or 0.71% to 24,002.64. While, Taiwan Weighted Down 18.54 points or 0.2% to 9,206.57.

European Markets made positive opening; UK’s FTSE 100 up by 41.24 points or 0.62% to 6,720.61, France’s CAC up by 45.12 points or 1.04% to 4,369.01 and Germany’s DAX up by 108.63 points or 1.1% to 9,959.98.