Markets continue to trade mildly in red

Indian bourses continue to trade mildly in red in the afternoon session on account of selling witnessed in FMCG, oil and gas and auto stocks in view of heavy foreign capital outflows. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2,808.27 crore in the previous session.  However, losses remained capped as gain in infra, capital goods and banking stocks has provided much needed support to the domestic benchmarks. Investors’ sentiment got some support as the government has approved key insurance, coal and pharma sector reforms which were stuck in Parliament logjam. Among the sectoral indices, infra was top gaining index up by around 0.50%, while FMCG was top losing index trading down by around 0.76%. Broader indices outperformed the major indices as both mid cap and small cap indices were trading up by over 0.22%.

Shares of edible oil maker Ruchi Soya Industries has rallied around 6% to Rs 37 as the government has hiked import duty on both crude and refined edible oil by 5%. Shares in SpiceJet has surged around 8% to Rs 19 on reports that cash-strapped aviation firm will provide a revival plan to the ministry of civil aviation today.

On global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in green with Nikkei 225 up by 0.12% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.72%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 8,200 and 27,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,382 stocks traded, 1,226 stocks advanced, while 1,064 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27167.38, down by 41.23 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 27097.85 and 27370.63. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were INFRA up by 0.50%, Capital Goods up by 0.38%, Bankex up by 0.35%, PSU up by 0.26% and Consumer Durables up by 0.04%.

On the flip side, FMCG down by 0.76%, Oil & Gas down by 0.46%, Auto down by 0.41%, Metal down by 0.25% and Realty down by 0.14% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 0.70%, Coal India up by 0.62%, Axis Bank up by 0.62%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.53% and Sun Pharma Inds up by 0.53%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 1.19%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.10%, Tata Motors down by 1.01%, ITC down by 1.01% and Wipro down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to protect the interest of farmers and the domestic oil processing industry amid falling global prices, the government has hiked import duty on both crude and refined edible oil by 5 percent. As per the notification issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), the customs duty on crude oil has been increased to 7.5 percent from 2.5 percent earlier, while the duty on refined edible oil has been raised to 15 percent from 10 percent.

India imports about 60 percent of the annual domestic demand of vegetable oils, which include edible and non-edible oil at about 19 million tonnes. India's vegetable oil imports rose 12 percent to an all time high of 11.82 million tonnes in the 2013-14 marketing year ended October on account of increase in domestic consumption and low rates of cooking oils in global markets. Earlier, both the ministries of food and agriculture had recommended an increase in import duty of refined edible oil and crude edible oil.

Applauding the government's latest decision, the industry stated that the government has kept the duty difference between the crude and refined edible oils at 10-12 percent which in turn would be result in an increase in capacity utilisation and value addition by the domestic refiners.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8178.10, up by 4.00 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 8147.95 and 8234.55. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were PNB up by 1.80%, Power Grid Corpn up by 1.21%, Bank Of Baroda up by 1.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.92% and SBI up by 0.88%. On the flip side, NMDC down by 1.14%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.12%, ITC down by 0.83%, Tata Motors down by 0.68% and Grasim Industries down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading in green, Nikkei 225 up by 21.29 points or 0.12% to 17,830.04, Shanghai Composite up by 52.82 points or 1.72% to 3,125.35, KOSPI Index up by1.55 points or 0.08% to 1,948.16, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI up by11.18 points or 0.64% to 1,760.92 and Taiwan Weighted up by 55.37 points or 0.6% to 9,214.07. While, Straits Times down 1.22 points or 0.04% to 3,344.69