Markets pares early gains in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks pared all early gains and were trading near intra-day low level in the afternoon session on account of selling witnessed in metal and FMCG stocks amid weak global cues. Global investor sentiment were hit as World Bank lowered its global growth forecast for 2015 and next year due to disappointing economic prospects in the euro zone, Japan. Furthermore, investors also opted to remain on sidelines ahead of December WPI data, which is scheduled to be released later in the day. However, losses remained capped as investors were seen piling up position in power, IT and teck stocks. Broader indices were also trading in green. Sector specific, shares of FMCG sector were on buyer radar with most of the frontline companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Marico and Nestle India are trading at their respective lifetime highs on domestic bourses amid expectation of better than expected result for Q3FY15. Shares of cement companies were trading higher by up to 5% amid reports that cement manufacturers have hiked the cement prices in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In stock specific movement, share of Tata Teleservices was locked in 20% upper circuit at Rs 10 after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the offer for buyback of DoCoMo's stake in the company.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in red with Nikkei 225 down points 1.82% and Taiwan Weighted down 0.56%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 8,300 and 27,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,533 stocks traded, 1,231 stocks advanced, while 1,199 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27356.08, down by 69.65 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 27350.29 and 27512.80. There were 13 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.14%, while Small cap index up by 0.03%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.69%, IT up by 0.63%, TECK up by 0.46%, Capital Goods up by 0.32% and Auto up by 0.27%. On the flip side, Metal down by 2.16%, FMCG down by 0.79%, Oil & Gas down by 0.53%, Bankex down by 0.28% and Consumer Durables down by 0.07% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.43%, BHEL up by 2.37%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.29%, Infosys up by 0.97% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.03%, Sesa Sterlite down by 3.52%, ITC down by 3.05%, Tata Steel down by 2.71% and GAIL India down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, optimistic over the improving fundamentals of domestic economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asserted that economic revival has started adding that the government has managed to bring current account deficit within comfort level with help from falling oil prices.

Finance Minister stated that global economic situation is facing a critical challenge and thus focus will be given to domestic market and consumption as global economy is still not showing positive signs of growth except the USA. By adding further, he stated that the government is committed to fiscal discipline, boosting investment in infrastructure and reviving of manufacturing sector. The government has taken lots of initiatives during the last 7-8 months and economic growth is improving and inflation and external fronts has managed under control. Finance Minister held a pre-Budget interaction with economists and discussed about the key measures to boost the domestic economic growth.

After registering an average growth rate of 8% during FY08-FY12, Indian economic growth had slowed down to below 5% over the last two financial years. The factors like high interest rate and stubborn inflation, low investments and slow execution of infrastructure projects have impacted country’s economy growth. However, the domestic economy has shown signs of nascent recovery and expanded at 5.5% during first half of this fiscal as compared to 4.9% in the same period of previous fiscal. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8282.30, down by 17.10 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 8278.55 and 8326.45. There were 26 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 3.21%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.58%, BHEL up by 2.56%, ACC up by 2.31% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.19%, Sesa Sterlite down by 3.62%, ITC down by 3.12%, Tata Steel down by 2.64% and GAIL India down by 1.89% were the top losers.

Asian Markets were trading in red, Nikkei 225 down 310.85 points or 1.82% to 16,776.86, Taiwan Weighted down 51.57 points or 0.56% to 9,180.23, Hang Seng down 33.83 points or 0.14% to 24,182.14, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI down 5.68 points or 0.32% to 1,743.22, KOSPI Index down 3.48 points or 0.18% to 1,913.66, Straits Times down 3.09 points or 0.09% to 3,337.98 and Jakarta Composite down 0.69 points or 0.01% to 5,213.67. While, Shanghai Composite up by 1.12 points or 0.03% to 3,236.43