Choppiness continues on Dalal Street in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals with frontline gauges trading with marginal losses as investors remained on sidelines ahead of Bihar assembly polls outcome. Weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings by some bluechip companies too were hurting investors’ confidence. However, losses remained capped after the government published the long-awaited proposals to overhaul an outdated and overburdened bankruptcy process. A government-appointed panel has suggested a modern bankruptcy law to deal with insolvency cases within 180 days that may arise on account of business failures or economic downturns, with a view to promoting ease of doing business and spur economic activities.

On the global front, Asian markets were exhibiting mixed trend at this point of time after the US central bank hinted at a December interest rate hike, sending short-term US bond yields to 4-1/2-year highs and pushing the dollar broadly up. Back home, on the sectoral front, fast moving consumer goods, public sector undertaking and consumer durables witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while healthcare, banking and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 887 shares on the gaining side against 1,448 shares on the losing side while 108 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26493.12, down by 59.80 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 26373.48 and 26557.80. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.48%, while Small cap index down by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.47%, PSU up by 0.38%, Consumer Durables up by 0.23% and Auto up by 0.16%, while Healthcare down by 0.97%, Bankex down by 0.87%, Realty down by 0.77%, TECK down by 0.41% and Oil & Gas down by 0.22%, were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 1.98%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.21%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%, NTPC up by 0.85% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.07%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.44%, Vedanta down by 2.13%, Sun Pharma down by 1.98% and Axis Bank down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to discuss ways to arrest the plunge in the exports, A Commerce Ministry panel will hold a meeting on November 6 in Goa. The meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Commerce will be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. In the meeting issues related to continuous dip in exports and ways to boost the country’s exports will be discussed. The Director General of Foreign Trade will give a presentation on the foreign trade policy to the committee, which comprises 11 Members of Lok Sabha, and seven Members of Rajya Sabha.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has said that the decline of 17.6 per cent in first six months of the fiscal will put massive pressure even in realising the export figure which India achieved aggregate $310.5 billion in 2014-15. Recently, with an aim to improve competitiveness of a large number of exporters and help them tide over the difficult global economic scenario, the government has extended incentives of Rs 3,000 crore to a large number of products, including textiles and electronics. This move would help in boosting exports, which are in negative zone since December last year.

Contracting for the tenth month in a row, India's exports plunged over 24 percent in September mainly due to global slowdown and declining commodity prices worldwide. The last time Indian exports registered a positive growth was in November 2014, when shipments had expanded at a rate of 7.27 percent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8017.05, down by 23.15 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 7981.90 and 8031.20. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 2.01%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.22%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.92%, Asian Paints up by 0.84% and Power Grid up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.04%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.58%, Vedanta down by 2.18%, Sun Pharma down by 2.04% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 4.98 points or 0.02% to 23,058.55, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 8.23 points or 0.49% to 1,693.85, Shanghai Composite surged 74.91 points or 2.17% to 3,534.55 and Nikkei 225 was up by 189.5 points or 1% to 19,116.41. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 18.67 points or 0.4% to 4,593.90, Taiwan Weighted slipped 6.84 points or 0.08% to 8,850.18 and KOSPI Index was down by 3.36 points or 0.16% to 2,049.41.