Markets trade with marginal losses in early deals

After gaining around half a percent in previous session, markets have started the session on flat note and are now trading with marginal losses, as Investors remained on the sidelines and refrained from making big moves ahead of the two-day FOMC meet, in which the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates. Sentiments were also under pressure on report that Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to a 14-month high of 5.4 per cent in November as compared to 5% in October 2015. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 157.07 crore on December 14, 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges that too added negative milieu. However, the session is productive for broader indices, which outperforming larger counterparts were trading with gains in the range of 0.20-0.25%.

In the scrip scrip specific development, Hotel Leelaventure surged on the BSE after the company completed the Rs 725-crore sale of its Goa property to Ceres Hotels.

On the global front, the US stocks ended higher, lifted by a rebound in crude-oil prices. Asian markets were trading mostly in green tracking the overnight gains on Wall Street.

Back home,  traders were seen piling up position in FMCG, Realty, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and PSU, while selling was witnessed in Bankex, Auto, IT, TECK and Power. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 938: 612 while 83 scrips remained unchanged

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25113.64, down by 36.71 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 25085.63 and 25190.12. 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 0.20%, while Small cap index gained 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.70%, Realty up by 0.41%, Oil & Gas up by 0.40%, Consumer Durables up by 0.30% and PSU up by 0.12%, while Bankex down by 0.62%, Auto down by 0.30%, IT down by 0.26%, TECK down by 0.26% and Power down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.53%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.15%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.83%, ITC up by 0.72% and ONGC up by 0.56%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.45%, BHEL down by 1.05%, Tata Motors down by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.92% and HDFC Bank down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Gobal rating agency Fitch has retained India's sovereign rating at BBB-/Stable -- the lowest investment grade and said that the country will continue to post good growth despite subdued prospect for the Asia Pacific region amid expected rise in US rates, dollar strength, and lower commodity prices.

Fitch said that sovereigns are generally much less reliant on foreign-currency financing, and many countries now have more flexible exchange-rate regimes in place of the more prevalent use of explicit pegs before 1997. Adding that this gives authorities greater scope to let exchange rates act as a buffer today compared with the mid-1990s

However, the rating agency expects Emerging Asia growth to slow to 6.3 per cent in 2016 from 6.5 per cent, driven almost entirely by a projected slowdown in China.  Excluding the two giants China and India, the region is projected to expand 5.2 per cent in 2016 from 5 per cent, the fastest of any emerging region, it said in its report 'Emerging Asia Sovereign Outlook 2016

Talking about the headwinds, the report said 'dollar strength in the context of an expected rise in US rates, still-sluggish global trade growth and lower commodity prices pose a challenging set of circumstances for Emerging Asia in 2016 - which partly explains why the high growth rates of the mid-2000s look out of reach.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7638.95, down by 11.10 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 7628.25 and 7663.95. There were 21 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.39%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.20%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.15%, Yes Bank up by 0.95% and HCL Tech. up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 2.15%, PNB down by 1.56%, ICICI Bank down by 1.41%, BHEL down by 1.14% and Tata Motors down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, KOSPI Index increased 2.47 points or 0.13% to 1,930.29, Shanghai Composite increased 2.99 points or 0.09% to 3,523.66, Jakarta Composite increased 7.94 points or 0.18% to 4,382.13, Taiwan Weighted increased 67.2 points or 0.84% to 8,107.36 and Hang Seng increased 116.35 points or 0.55% to 21,426.20.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 138.85 points or 0.74% to 18,744.57and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.6 points or 0.16% to 1,627.36.