Markets come off the day’s low; still trade in red

Markets continue to show a sluggish trend in the noon deals, with not much respite in sight, though the selling has got arrested and the benchmarks have recovered a bit from the day’s low, but the major benchmarks continue to trade lower tracking the steep fall in some regional equity markets. Traders seem to have overlooked Global ratings agency Moody's Investors Service’s statement that investment levels in India (Baa3 positive) are showing nascent signs of recovery, driven by an upturn in the capital replacement cycle, and increased public sector expenditure. Investors also failed to get any sense of relief from report that the FDI in the country grew by 13 percent to $16.63 billion during the April-September period of the current fiscal, compared to $14.69 billion during April-September 2014.

On the global front, most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red terrain at this point of time after downbeat US manufacturing data raised questions about how aggressive the Federal Reserve would be when hiking interest rates, while the dollar retreated from 8-1/2-month highs. Back home, on the sectoral front, metal, healthcare and material witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while banking, software and finance remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 1,230 shares on the gaining side against 1,301 shares on the losing side while 122 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26084.83, down by 84.58 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 26041.68 and 26256.42. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.13%, while Small cap index down by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.83%, Healthcare up by 0.34%, Materials up by 0.31%, Energy up by 0.26% and Realty up by 0.24%, while Bankex down by 0.96%, IT down by 0.84%, Finance down by 0.75%, TECK down by 0.68%, Capital Goods down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.76%, Hindalco up by 1.38%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.17%, Cipla up by 1.13% and Vedanta up by 0.95%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.44%, Infosys down by 1.36%, ICICI Bank down by 1.30%, BHEL down by 1.14% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, giving some cheers to the government, which has recently relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms in as many as 15 sectors including defence, single brand retail, construction development, civil aviation and LLPs to boost foreign inflow in the country, the FDI in the country grew by 13 percent to $16.63 billion during the April-September period of the current fiscal, compared to $ 14.69 billion during April-September 2014.

As per the data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the first half of the financial year, India received maximum FDI of $ 6.69 billion from Singapore followed by Mauritius $3.66 billion, the Netherlands $1.09 billion and Japan $ 815 million.

Sectors wise, the highest foreign investment during the first half of the fiscal was attracted by computer software and hardware of $ 3.05 billion, followed by trading $2.30 billion, services and automobile $ 1.46 billion each and telecommunications $ 659 million.

During financial year 2014-15, foreign fund inflows grew at 27 percent to $30.93 billion as against $ 24.29 billion in 2013-14. Foreign investments are considered crucial for India as they improve the country's balance of payments (BoP) situation and strengthen the rupee. Also, India needs around $1 trillion in the next five years to overhaul its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7922.40, down by 32.50 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 7910.80 and 7979.30. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.90%, Hindalco up by 1.57%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.25%, Asian Paints up by 1.20% and Vedanta up by 1.12%. On the flip side, PNB down by 2.43%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.00%, HCL Tech. down by 1.99%, SBI down by 1.74% and Infosys down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 74.27 points or 0.37% to 19,938.13, KOSPI Index declined 14.64 points or 0.72% to 2,009.29, Taiwan Weighted slipped 5.9 points or 0.07% to 8,457.40, Jakarta Composite shed 3.67 points or 0.08% to 4,554.00 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 1.01 points or 0.06% to 1,681.36. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 73.01 points or 2.11% to 3,529.32 and Hang Seng was up by 151.26 points or 0.68% to 22,532.61.