Benchmarks extend losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets extend losses in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters triggered by weakness in global counterparts. The sentiments were under pressure on fresh security concerns in Paris after a gun-battle broke out in a northern suburb of the city during an anti-terrorist police operation. The depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar also weighed down sentiments. Traders were seen piling position in Consumer Durables, Power and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Bankex sector stocks. Hectic buying activity was witnessed in some sugar stocks on reports that the government is planning to offer a subsidy of Rs 1,200 crore to farmers. In the scrip specific development, Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals was trading firm after the company clarified in a notice that it has not received any communication or warning from FDA due to Clovis Oncology issue. Valiant Communications was trading firm after the company stated that it has got an order worth Rs 8.03 crore from Power Grid Corporation of India.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,800 and 25,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1055:1457 while 175 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25596.45, down by 268.02 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 25519.00 and 25890.36. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.36%, while Small cap index down by 0.36%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.85%, Power up by 0.29%, Oil & Gas up by 0.10% while, IT down by 2.02%, TECK down by 1.45%, Bankex down by 1.41%, Metal down by 1.08%, Realty down by 0.52% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.00%, GAIL India up by 1.61%, Coal India up by 1.10%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.00% and Tata Motors up by 0.27%.

On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.39%, Infosys down by 3.52%, Tata Steel down by 2.92%, Vedanta down by 2.50% and SBI down by 2.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has invited investments from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF), assuring that it will attract good returns. He said that “It’s a great opportunity for the UAE sovereign wealth funds and pension funds to make best use of NIIF and make big investments in India”.

Jaitley met HE Sheikh Hamed Bin Jayed AL Nahyan, Managing Director, ADIA and Chairman, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court HE Sheikh Nahyan and highlighted the various initiatives taken by the present government in the last one-and-a-half year for enhancing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. Jaitley later informed that ADIA has shown keen interest in making investment on NIIF and its officials will be visiting India on 19th of this month in order to discuss this matter further. He also said that ADIA is also interested in investing for establishing strategic oil reserves at Mangalore Port in Karnataka.

In July, the government approved the creation of the NIIF with a corpus of Rs.20,000 crore for development of infrastructure projects, including the stalled ones. It decided last week that a governing council headed by the finance minister will oversee the activities of the NIIF. Jaitley is the chairman of the six-member council, while the economic affairs secretary functions as the council's secretary.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7764.45, down by 73.10 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 7738.60 and 7843.40. There were 11 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Idea Cellular up by 3.09%, NTPC up by 2.08%, GAIL India up by 1.78%, Asian Paints up by 1.61% and Coal India up by 1.04%.

On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.45%, Infosys down by 3.66%, Tata Steel down by 2.86%, Vedanta down by 2.44% and ICICI Bank down by 2.24% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 78.95 points or 0.94% to 8,340.47, Hang Seng decreased 75.99 points or 0.34% to 22,188.26, Shanghai Composite decreased 36.33 points or 1.01% to 3,568.47, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.93 points or 0.18% to 1,658.60 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.7 points or 0.04% to 1,962.88.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite increased 4.62 points or 0.1% to 4,505.56 and Nikkei 225 increased 18.55 points or 0.09% to 19,649.18.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 84.59 points or 0.77% to 10,886.45, France’s CAC decreased 46.04 points or 0.93% to 4,891.27 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 29.07 points or 0.46% to 6,239.69.