Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were on pessimistic note on increase in capital outflows amid a weakening trend in global markets that is keeping the markets under pressure. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables and Auto stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Realty and PSU sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Bank of India, which reported its earnings yesterday post market hours, was trading under pressure on concerns over the lender’s asset quality. On the flip side, InterGlobe Aviation, which runs no-frills carrier IndiGo, was trading firm after making a strong debut on the bourses. NHPC was trading firm after the company posted a 72.62 percent jump in net profit in the September quarter. The market will remain close on Thursday i.e. November 12, 2015 on account of ‘Diwali Balipratipada’ holiday while the stock exchanges will conduct a special Muhurat Trading on Wednesday i.e. November 11, 2015 between 5.45 pm and 6.45 pm.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,850 and 26,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 1010:1427 while 110 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25939.18, down by 182.22 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 25831.54 and 26094.09. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.99%, while Small cap index down by 0.28%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.86% and Auto up by 0.43% while, Oil & Gas down by 2.56%, Realty down by 1.81%, PSU down by 1.39%, Power down by 1.16% and Metal down by 1.06% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco up by 2.38%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.03%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.53%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.35% and Axis Bank up by 1.34%.

On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 4.01%, ONGC down by 3.85%, Sun Pharma down by 3.55%, Reliance Industries down by 2.64% and Vedanta down by 2.40% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has approved four foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals amounting Rs 384 crore based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) including that of pharma firm Lupin. Further, FIPB in its meeting which was chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das also cleared proposals of Eucare Pharmaceuticals and Hanon Systems from manufacturing sector.

Lupin had sought approval in respect of ESOPs granted by Lupin prior to 11 June 2015 to the non-resident employees of the company amounting to Rs 331.64 crore or its subsidiaries/joint ventures, as the case may be, which stock options have not been exercised by the employees nor shares otherwise allotted against them by Lupin up to the said date. Besides, BF Elbit Advanced Systems’ Rs 37.8 crore proposal for increasing foreign shareholding from 26 per cent to 49 per cent was also cleared.

However, five proposals including those of telecom sector firm Fire Fly Networks, defence sector firms RoltaMeprolight and Quantum Simulators, pharma sector’s  SeQuent Scientific and Singapore based  LLP Diarough Far East Holdings were deferred. Meanwhile, FIPB rejected four proposals which include Barefoot Resorts and Leisure lndia, Franklin Templeton Asset Management (lndia), Jeet Parikh and Reliance Globalcom.

FDI is permitted in most of the sectors through automatic route, but the segments which are considered sensitive for economy need to be first cleared from FIPB. The FIPB can recommend foreign investment proposals of up to Rs 3,000 crore to the finance minister for approval and the proposals worth above that are referred to CCEA.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7840.85, down by 74.35 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 7813.65 and 7885.10. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.18%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.91%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.54%, Hindalco up by 1.44% and Axis Bank up by 1.39%.

On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 4.14%, ONGC down by 3.89%, Sun Pharma down by 3.61%, Adani Ports &Special down by 3.53% and Cairn India down by 3.28% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 325.07 points or 1.43% to 22,401.70, Taiwan Weighted decreased 105.58 points or 1.22% to 8,536.90, KOSPI Index decreased 29.11 points or 1.44% to 1,996.59, Shanghai Composite decreased 6.4 points or 0.18% to 3,640.49 and Jakarta Composite decreased 3.28 points or 0.07% to 4,496.23.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 increased 28.52 points or 0.15% to 19,671.26. Stock markets in Malaysia and Singapore was closed on account of holiday.

The European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 10.96 points or 0.17% to 6,306.12, France’s CAC increased 18.2 points or 0.37% to 4,929.37 and Germany’s DAX increased 22.45 points or 0.21% to 10,837.90.