Benchmarks recover from day's low; enters into positive territory

Reversing gears, Indian equity markets have entered into positive territory in late morning deals on emergence of buying by funds and retail investors in select stocks ahead of the WPI numbers. sentiments got some support with finance minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India's economy has grown faster than any other despite global economic turbulence, below par monsoons and private sector stress. Jaitley said the global economy is facing a challenging time because many areas of business and trade have been hit by lower oil, commodity and metal prices. But what is gloom for some is in some sense a boom for India. Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his confidences by saying that FDI into India has increased by 40 percent since last year which shows the increasing global confidence in the country.  However, investors remained cautious in the wake of last week's deadly attacks in Paris and downbeat data from Japan.  Meanwhile, IT & TECK stocks extended losses, troubled by the introduction of a Visa bill in the US that aims to cut down the number of short-term visas issued by the US.

On the global front, Asian stocks were hit by a sell-off, with sentiment badly dented by Friday's brutal terrorist attacks in Paris. Sentiments were further dented by Chinese stock regulators' announcement, which stated that it would hike margin finance requirements to reduce systemic risks. Data released in Japan indicated that Japan's economy has slipped back into recession in the July-September quarter, contracting at a 0.8% annualised rate, compared with the estimate for a 0.2% contraction. Meanwhile, US stocks snapped a six-week winning streak as retail shares tumbled on weak earnings and economic data. Back on street, stocks from Banking, Capital Goods and Consumer Durables counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from IT, TECK and Oil & Gas counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone.

In scrip specific development, shares of Welspun Corp have surged after the company reported multi-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 101 crore for the second quarter ended September 2015. Welspun Corp reported over 19 fold jump in its consolidated net profit after taxes, minority interest and share of profit of associates at Rs 101.09 crore for the quarter ended September  30, 2015 as compared to Rs 5.25 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2236 stocks traded, 1066 stocks advanced, while 1050 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25634.91, up by 24.38 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 25451.42 and 25640.86. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.38%, Capital Goods up by 0.60%, Consumer Durables up by 0.56%, FMCG up by 0.36% and Realty up by 0.25%, while IT down by 1.43%, TECK down by 1.13%, Oil & Gas down by 0.60%, Auto down by 0.49% and Metal down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.37%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.32%, ITC up by 1.70%, SBI up by 1.39% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.08%, Tata Motors down by 1.70%, ONGC down by 1.66%, TCS down by 1.33% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, state run fuel retailers, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) have hiked prices of petrol and diesel by 36 paise/litre and 87 paise/litre respectively. The new rates announced by the oil marketing companies (OMCs) will be effective from midnight of November 15/16 2015. Following the hike, the petrol now in the National capital cost Rs. 61.06/litre as against Rs 60.70 a litre currently, while diesel price will come at Rs. 46.80/litre as compared to Rs 45.93 per litre currently.

This is the first hike in petrol price in five months and the third in diesel rates since October. Petrol price was last revised upwards on July 16, when the fuel was made more expensive by 32 paise/litre. Since then, its prices have been cut on four occasions. Diesel rates had been hiked by 95 paise on October 16 and by 50 paise on October 1. They were on September 1 reduced by 50 paise a litre. At the last revision on November 1, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have slashed price of petrol by 50 paise per litre while keeping the rate of diesel unchanged.

Based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rates in the previous fortnight, PSU oil marketing companies revise petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month. The oil companies have said that the movement of prices in the international oil market and INR-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7764.95, up by 2.70 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 7714.15 and 7769.30. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.37%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.19%, Indusind Bank up by 2.14%, ICICI Bank up by 1.89% and ITC up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.10%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.93%, Tata Motors down by 1.77%, ONGC down by 1.70% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.53% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red, Hang Seng was down by 1.57%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.89%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.95%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.38%, KOSPI Index decre down by 1.23%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.47% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.08%.