Benchmarks trade lower; Nifty slips below 7,750 mark

Indian equity benchmarks erasing all the morning gains were trading in red in early noon session, as investors booked profits. Selling pressure on the index heavyweights such as Tata Motors, Axis Bank, ITC has dragged the markets lower, however, the losses remained capped taking support from the global ratings agency Fitch ratings, which said that India is better placed to handle the impact of the Fed lift off than its peers. Meanwhile, some support also come with the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das statement that India is well prepared to deal with the impact of the US Federal Reserve interest rate hike and the end of uncertainties will actually help policy makers in emerging economies. US Fed rate hike and reference to gradualism are on expected lines. He also added that the Fed's confidence on recovery is good news for India's exports, especially for the IT sector. Traders were seen piling up position in Metal, Reality, Power, Capital goods and PSU stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Auto, Oil & Gas, and Teck sector stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green, after the US Federal Reserve, announced it would raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Back home, both the sensex and nifty were trading below their crucial 25,500 and 7,750 levels, respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2320 stocks traded, 1475 stocks advanced, while 666 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25474.13, down by 20.24 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 25448.32 and 25659.32. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.59%, while Small cap index gained 0.78%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.88%, Realty up by 0.55%, Power up by 0.31%, Capital Goods up by 0.30% and PSU up by 0.26%, while FMCG down by 0.33%, Auto down by 0.31% and Oil & Gas down by 0.15% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.45%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.26%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 1.17%, SBI up by 1.03% and Hindalco up by 0.95%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.38%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.44%, Axis Bank down by 0.94%, Tata Motors down by 0.93% and BHEL down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid fall in global crude prices, the government has raised excise duty on petrol and diesel, to shore up its revenues without stoking inflation. The duty on petrol has been raised by 30 paise a litre while that on diesel is up a steeper Rs 1.17 per litre. This move can add an extra Rs 2,500 crore to the exchequer for the rest of the fiscal, helping it bridge the expected deficit in the direct taxes in the current fiscal.

After including additional and special excise duty, the total levy on unbranded petrol will be Rs 19.36 per litre as against the earlier Rs 19.06. On unbranded or normal diesel, total excise duty after including special excise duty will be Rs 11.83 per litre compared to Rs 10.66 earlier. Basic excise duty on branded petrol has been raised from Rs 8.24 per litre to Rs 8.54 a litre and the same on branded diesel from Rs 7.02 to Rs 8.19 per litre. This is the second increase in excise duty in less than six weeks. Earlier on November 7, the government had raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 1.60 per litre and on diesel by 30 paise a litre.

The government’s receipts from excise duty collection during April-November period rose 67.1% to Rs 1.7 lakh crore partly on account of duty increase in fuels and withdrawal of duty benefits given to automobiles and consumer goods.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7746.00, down by 4.90 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 7737.55 and 7800.15. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.64%, Tata Power up by 1.85%, Yes Bank up by 1.76%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.22% and Sun Pharma up by 1.12%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.45%, Cairn India down by 1.83%, Idea Cellular down by 1.44%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.32% and Axis Bank down by 1.06% were the top losers.
 
Asina markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index increased 3.31 points or 0.17% to 1,972.71, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 14.29 points or 0.87% to 1,648.42, Jakarta Composite increased 53.27 points or 1.19% to 4,536.72, Shanghai Composite increased 63.28 points or 1.8% to 3,579.47, Taiwan Weighted increased 135.01 points or 1.65% to 8,319.67, Hang Seng increased 178.97 points or 0.82% to 21,880.18 and Nikkei 225 increased 341.22 points or 1.79% to 19,391.13.