Benchmarks trade marginally in red in early deals

Indian equity markets have once again made a negative opening and are now trading lower in early deals on Wednesday, after IT giant TCS Q2 results missed the street expectations following Infosys indicating tough times in the latter half of the financial year for Indian IT companies. For the quarter ended September 30, TCS' revenue grew 3% sequentially, or 5.8% year-over-year. Weakness in the global markets also weighed on the sentiments, however, losses remained capped with Finance Ministry stating that reform measures would continue in order to boost economic activity. Also, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, allaying concerns of investors over pace of reforms in India has said the government has implemented “game- changing” measures to transform India's economic fortunes and improve the business environment in the country.

In the scrip specific development, DCB Bank cracked 19% after the bank posted 10% drop in the net profit from Rs 41 crore in Q2 FY15 to Rs 37 crore in the Q2 FY16 on the back of higher provisioning and tax expenses.

On the global front, the US markets ended lower, with the Dow snapping a seven-days winning streak, on renewed fears of slowing growth in China and another bout of selling in biotech shares. The Asian markets were trading mostly in red, with the weak cues from Wall Street and the decline in crude oil prices denting investor sentiment. Meanwhile, soft inflation data from China added to concerns about the world's second-largest economy.

Closer home traders were seen piling up position in Metal, Realty, Oil & Gas, Healthcare and PSU, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK, Consumer Durables and Auto. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1064: 518 while 75 scrips remained unchanged. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26832.69, down by 13.84 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 26713.28 and 26836.53. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index gained 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.38%, Realty up by 0.75%, Oil & Gas up by 0.52%, Healthcare up 0.34% and PSU up by 0.25%, while IT down by 0.73%, TECK down by 0.62%, Consumer Durables down by 0.54% and Auto down by 0.42% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 4.53%, Vedanta up by 3.43%, Tata Steel up by 2.57%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.78% and Reliance Industries up by 0.78%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.29%, Tata Motors down by 1.30%, Cipla down by 1.01%, ICICI Bank down by 0.99% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, encouraged by the almost three years high industrial production data in August, the Finance Ministry has said that reform measures would continue in order to boost economic activity. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said that 'Improved IIP numbers are encouraging. Reform measures will continue. GST and Bankruptcy law are on top of reform agenda.'

The finance ministry has said that latest data for Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI)-New Series points at steady improvement in the Indian economy. It said that Industrial growth data is a reflection of recovery in the economy, predominantly led by domestic demand as the external sector environment continues to be sluggish.

Industrial output rose to nearly three-year high of 6.4 percent in August on improvement in manufacturing and capital goods, the more than 6% growth in IIP came after 34 months. Cumulative IIP growth in the first five months in 2015-16 at 4.1% was better than the growth of 3% in the same period last year.

The manufacturing sector grew at 6.9% in August spearheading the industrial production growth. The double digit growth in capital goods of 21.8% and consumer durables of 17% in August 2015 was helped by a favourable base effect, implying improvement in investment and consumption demand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8122.35, down by 9.35 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8096.35 and 8127.25. There were 26 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.93%, Vedanta up by 3.71%, Tata Steel up by 2.90%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.81% and Adani Ports &Special up by 0.79%. On the flip side, TCS down by 4.20%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.04%, ICICI Bank down by 1.23%, Cipla down by 1.11% and Tata Motors down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 decreased 294.48 points or 1.61% to 17,940.26, Hang Seng decreased 120.22 points or 0.53% to 22,480.24, Taiwan Weighted decreased 23.35 points or 0.27% to 8,544.57 and KOSPI Index decreased 8.41 points or 0.42% to 2,010.64.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 1.97 points or 0.06% to 3,295.20.