Benchmarks continue weak trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments remained under pressure on the report that India's manufacturing growth slumped to a 25-month low in November due to a combination of lower demand, higher input costs and softening output. The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index declined to 50.3 in November from 50.7 in October. Besides, Depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar also weighed down sentiments. Indian rupee slipped from its initial gains by 16 paise to 66.65 against the American currency in late morning deals following bouts of dollar demand from importers amid volatile equities. However, losses remained capped with global ratings agency Moody'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.

On the global front, Asian stock markets wavered after downbeat U.S. 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. However, European shares rose in early trade, buoyed by expectations of new economic stimulus measures from the European Central Bank (ECB), while healthcare stocks outperformed on some bullish broker recommendations. Back home, traders were seen piling position in Metal, FMCG and Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in Banking, IT and PSU sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, shares of IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company rallied after the company bagged road projects worth Rs 675 crore from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).Furthermore, Sequent Scientific has soared after company has completed the acquisition of Alivira Animal Health.

The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2817 stocks traded, 1348 stocks advanced, while 1324 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26082.21, down by 87.20 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 26041.68 and 26256.42. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index down by 0.13%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.74%, FMCG up by 0.22%, Oil & Gas up by 0.12% while, Bankex down by 1.11%, IT down by 0.85%, PSU down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.63%, Capital Goods down by 0.62% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.84%, Lupin up by 2.37%, Cipla up by 1.57%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.43% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.28%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.87%, Infosys down by 1.60%, ICICI Bank down by 1.43%, HDFC down by 1.38% and BHEL down by 1.08% 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 7921.60, down by 33.30 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 7910.80 and 7979.30. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.88%, Lupin up by 2.39%, Cipla up by 1.63%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.33% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.26%. On the flip side, PNB down by 2.68%, SBI down by 2.20%, Bank of Baroda down by 2.17%, HCL Tech. down by 2.13% and Infosys down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 was down by 0.37%, KOSPI Index down by 0.72%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.07%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.12% and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 0.14%. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 2.33% and Hang Seng was up by 0.44%.

The European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.34%, France’s CAC up by 0.18% and Germany’s DAX was up by 0.12%.