Benchmark continues lackluster trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their lackluster trade hovering below the neutral line in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Metal stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Auto sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, DCB Bank was locked at lower circuit limit after it reported 10.1% decline in its September quarter net profit from the year-ago period due to higher provisions and contingencies, operating cost and tax expenses. Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 36.93 crore against Rs 41.09 crore a year ago. Bharat Forge was trading in red after a foreign brokerage firm reportedly downgraded the stock to sell from buy, citing weak operational outlook. Cipla, India’s fourth-largest drug maker by sales was trading under pressure on reports of FDA concerns over InvaGen plant.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1463:1131 while 137 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26842.07, down by 4.46 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 26713.28 and 26869.08. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.19%, while Small cap index up by 0.53%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.88%, Oil & Gas up by 0.62%, Metal up by 0.42%, Realty up by 0.16% and FMCG up by 0.06%, while IT down by 0.82%, TECK down by 0.69%, Auto down by 0.47%, Capital Goods down by 0.12%, Power down by 0.06% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 3.43%, Tata Steel up by 1.84%, Vedanta up by 1.81%, Lupin up by 1.54% and GAIL India up by 1.36%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 4.07%, ICICI Bank down by 1.32%, Coal India down by 1.28%, Tata Motors down by 1.25% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to transform India's economic fortunes and improve the business environment in the country, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha has said that the government has implemented 'game- changing' measures, reducing the concerns of investors over pace of reforms in India. Listing the initiatives by the government such as universal social security, 'Make in India' and agriculture credit, Sinha said that these measures are the game changing and are going to transform India's economic fortunes. 

Sinha further highlighted that in order to ensure universal social security, the government has initiated the 'Jan Dhan Yojna' which over a period of time will include other benefits like health insurance. Talking about agriculture initiatives like the irrigation soil health card, agricultural credit and crop insurance he said these are being put in place to make India's agriculture more productive. Besides, he said the Make in India, Skills India and Mudra schemes to highlight efforts by the government to improve manufacturing and give a boost to small entrepreneurs across the country.

Additionally, he said that the key objective of the government is to build India's productive capacity to ensure the country sustains an 8-10 per cent economic growth over the long term and lift millions out of poverty.  Furthermore, He added that “our overriding objective is to build India's productive capacity both as far as the hard assets and the soft assets are concerned”. Talking about hard assets he said that government has aligned huge infrastructure investments to develop the country's roads, factories, highways and bridge. On the other hand, the government is also paying attention to soft assets including improving employability and skills of the workforce, educational institutions and building an innovation eco-system that will propel entrepreneurship and start-ups. Though, Sinha stated there was expectation that 'big-bang' reforms would be put in place to fundamentally transform the economic landscape and there is disappointment in some quarters over the speed of such reforms.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8130.15, down by 1.55 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8096.35 and 8139.30. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.19%, Tata Steel up by 2.12%, GAIL India up by 1.86%, Vedanta up by 1.81% and ACC up by 1.58%.

On the flip side, TCS down by 4.12%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.36%, Cairn India down by 2.33%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.29% and ICICI Bank down by 1.34% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 343.74 points or 1.89% to 17,891.00, Hang Seng decreased 160.55 points or 0.71% to 22,439.91, Taiwan Weighted decreased 45.41 points or 0.53% to 8,522.51, Shanghai Composite decreased 30.79 points or 0.93% to 3,262.44 and KOSPI Index decreased 9.5 points or 0.47% to 2,009.55.

Malaysia and Indonesia stock exchange were closed on account of national holiday.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 38.86 points or 0.61% to 6,303.42, Germany’s DAX decreased 90.53 points or 0.9% to 9,942.29 and France’s CAC decreased 36.91 points or 0.79% to 4,606.47.