Benchmarks continue lackluster trade in green

Indian equity markets continued their lackluster trade in green in the late afternoon session on account of buying in front line blue chip counters. Investors will be closely watching the winter session of Parliament, beginning this week, which sets the agenda of the government. Traders were seen piling position in Realty, Oil & Gas and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Auto and Consumer Durables sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, JSW Steel was trading under pressure credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded its outlook on the company to ‘Negative’ from ‘Stable’ due to risk of further decline in product prices. The market may remain volatile today as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. November 2015 series to next month i.e. December 2015 series. The near month November 2015 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. November 26, 2015. The market will remain close tomorrow on account of ‘Gurunanak Jayanti’ holiday.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in green, while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,850 and 25,800 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1483:1003 while 210 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25854.68, up by 35.34 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 25703.86 and 25901.56. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.26%, while Small cap index up by 0.49%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.56%, Oil & Gas up by 1.13%, PSU up by 0.64%, Metal up by 0.38% and Power up by 0.21%, while Capital Goods down by 0.58%, Auto down by 0.43%, Consumer Durables down by 0.30%, IT down by 0.25% and TECK down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.34%, HDFC up by 2.09%, ONGC up by 1.88%, Reliance Industries up by 1.67% and Vedanta up by 0.72%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.11%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.12%, Sun Pharma down by 1.07%, Hindalco down by 0.81% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global rating agency, Fitch has said that spending by the Indian government on infrastructure will be the catalyst for any meaningful improvement in domestic steel demand. Fitch in its report titled '2016 Outlook: Indian Steel Sector' has said that spending on infra projects such as housing for all and smart cities is the key for the revival of the Indian steel industry, which faces headwinds like cheap imports.

Fitch in its report further highlighted that India's steel consumption to improve marginally by 7-8 per cent in 2016. The agency projected that high imports and soft steel prices globally in 2016 are likely to result in continuing profitability pressures for the Indian steel producers. Further, it added that “their margins are likely to be lower in 2015 and improve marginally in 2016, supported by improving domestic demand and the imposition of safeguard duty on imports on certain steel products for 200 days,”.

As of end-September 2015, Indian steel prices had fallen almost a quarter year-on-year in line with global trends. A relatively stronger rupee in 2015 to date; significant import increases and weak steel demand affected steel prices and consequently, profitability of steelmakers. On the other hand, the imposition of a 20 per cent duty on certain steel product imports, effective September 14, has given them some relief, Fitch said. On the global front, the report stated that global steel prices to remain weak in 2016, driven by weak demand and overcapacity in the industry

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7856.95, up by 7.70 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 7812.65 and 7870.35. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.52%, HDFC up by 2.35%, ONGC up by 1.79%, Reliance Industries up by 1.55% and Cairn India up by 1.45%.

On the flip side, Bosch down by 2.58%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.05%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.79%, GAIL India down by 1.22% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.21% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 5.8 points or 0.16% to 3,616.11, Jakarta Composite increased 8.3 points or 0.18% to 4,549.36, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9 points or 0.54% to 1,679.90, KOSPI Index increased 12.59 points or 0.63% to 2,016.29 and Nikkei 225 increased 45.08 points or 0.23% to 19,924.89.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 85.59 points or 1.01% to 8,400.14 and Hang Seng decreased 78.27 points or 0.35% to 22,587.63.

The European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 70.74 points or 0.64% to 11,021.57, France’s CAC decreased 58.2 points or 1.19% to 4,830.92 while, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 45.42 points or 0.72% to 6,260.07.