Benchmarks make negative opening on Tuesday

With a negative opening Indian equity markets have extended their previous session losses and are now trading flat, as traders turned cautious ahead of the derivatives expiry for the month of November and the commencement of winter session of the Parliament. Further, weak global cues also weighed on the sentiments. Moreover, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 35.37 crore on November 23, 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges that too kept pressurizing the markets.  However, the rupee recovered from over two-month low by rising 13 paise to 66.34 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks that prevented the markets go down.  On the sectoral front, traders were seen piling up position in Realty, Healthcare, Bankex, Power and PSU, while selling was witnessed in TECK, Capital Goods, FMCG, Oil & Gas and IT.

In the scrip specific development, Pfizer surged over 6 per cent after the parent company announced $160 billion merger with Irish pharma giant Allergen.

On the global front, the US markets ended slightly lower on a volatile day of trading, as a rally in the health care and energy sectors faded late in the session. Asian markets were trading mixed with investors treading cautiously following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and European markets. Additionally, lower commodity prices weighed on resources stocks.

Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,850 and 25,850 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1097: 560 while 105 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25834.41, up by 15.07 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 25703.86 and 25834.56. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index was higher by 0.39%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.66%, Healthcare up by 0.24%, Bankex up by 0.16%, Power up by 0.12% and PSU up by 0.11%, while TECK down by 0.22%, Capital Goods down by 0.21%, FMCG down by 0.15%, Oil & Gas down by 0.15% and IT down by 0.12% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.15%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.79%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.73%, Cipla up by 0.71% and Lupin up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.83%, Hindalco down by 0.74%, ITC down by 0.71%, Tata Motors down by 0.54% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising hopes for the passage of the much delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, just ahead of the start of the winter session of Parliament, has said that the government is reaching out to the Opposition to bring it on board to ensure passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill for GST.Terming GST as the 'need of the hour', Naidu said the 'GST should be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. The minister added that “I am confident (about the passage of GST) as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. I am already in touch with some of the Opposition parties. We are discussing with them and they have meaningful suggestions... They can also be taken into consideration while adopting the Bill in Parliament.”

It is being said that with the introduction of GST, India's GDP will rise by 1.5-2 per cent. Naidu said that we are seeing that the world market is slowing down, China is going a little negative and India is the most attractive place. Adding that it is a great opportunity for India, he said that we should take the initiative and make Indian economy more strong so that interest rates can come down and you can spend more on welfare and developmental activities.Earlier, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha had also said the government was in continuous consultation with the opposition parties on the proposed GST.

The GST, which is to be implemented from April 1, 2016 after remaining pending for the last seven years, will subsume more than a dozen state levies to create a single market. The Bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha and is awaiting clearance from the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA lacks majority. Some opposition parties are demanding that the GST rate should be fixed at 18 per cent, while the Rajya Sabha Select Committee has suggested that the GST rate should not go beyond 20 per cent as higher rates could fuel inflation and erode the confidence of consumers. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7848.20, down by 1.05 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 7812.65 and 7849.30. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 1.59%, HDFC up by 1.23%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.04%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.82%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Bosch down by 2.38%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.30%, GAIL India down by 1.02%, BPCL down by 0.99% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Jakarta Composite increased 3.65 points or 0.08% to 4,544.71, KOSPI Index increased 4 points or 0.2% to 2,007.70 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9.7 points or 0.58% to 1,680.60.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 164.4 points or 0.73% to 22,501.50, Taiwan Weighted decreased 45.47 points or 0.54% to 8,440.26, Shanghai Composite decreased 26.33 points or 0.73% to 3,583.98 and Nikkei 225 decreased 15.53 points or 0.08% to 19,864.28.