Benchmarks continue firm trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their firm trade in green in the late afternoon session rising to their highest level in more than three weeks as investors bought beaten-down stocks in the last trading week of the year. The sentiments remained on up-beat note with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that structural reforms including GST, rationalizing direct taxes and ease of doing business are among top priorities for New Year. Traders were seen piling position in Auto, Bankex and Oil & Gas stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal and Capital Goods sector stocks.  In the scrip specific development, Max India was trading firm following approval for its demerger from Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court approved Max India’s composite scheme of arrangement for demerger of company. GMR Infrastructure was trading in green after the company stated that it has executed agreements for the proposed restructuring of holdings in GMR Airports. The market may remain volatile as traders may roll over positions in the Futures & Options (F&O) segment from the near month i.e. December 2015 series to next month i.e. January 2015 series. The near month December 2015 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. December 31, 2015.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,900 and 25,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1557:999 while 244 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25992.04, up by 153.33 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 25856.86 and 26015.05. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.27%, while Small cap index up by 0.54%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.90%, Bankex up by 0.90%, Oil & Gas up by 0.67%, Power up by 0.66%, PSU up by 0.59% while, Metal down by 0.79%, Capital Goods down by 0.04% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.01%, ICICI Bank up by 2.42%, Tata Motors up by 2.25%, NTPC up by 2.19% and ONGC up by 2.01%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.80%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.62%, HDFC down by 0.34% and Asian Paints down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) disagreeing with the government's claim that there is 'no crisis' on the outward shipments front, has lowered India’s export outlook to $255- 260 billion for the financial year 2015-16. Earlier in September this year the industry body had forecast the country's exports to be around $265-268 billion.

Assocham further said that 'There is no point shying away from the crisis, if it is there. The answer lies in recognising the problem without sweeping it under the carpet and then finding a way out. After all, nobody in India or elsewhere, for that matter can be blamed for the global crash in demand.' It further added that it would also not be correct to take consolation in the fact that the exports have fallen marginally in rupee terms as India's balance of payments is calculated along with the current account deficit in dollar terms and exports have a major contribution. Therefore, one cannot take comfort in currency depreciation.

Earlier, the government facing flak for 12 straight months of decline in exports, had said there is 'no crisis' in India on the export front and there is 'no need for alarm'. However, Assocham said the sector is in real crisis which goes well beyond petroleum products, gems and jewellery to highly job-oriented leather and leather products and has engulfed the entire agriculture exports witnessing sharp falls.

Contraction in exports continued for the 12th month in a row in November as outward shipments shrank 24.43 per cent to $20.01 billion amid a global demand slowdown. Cumulative value of exports during April-November 2015-16 stood at $174.30 billion as against $213.77 billion in the same period last year, down 18.46 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7909.20, up by 48.15 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 7863.00 and 7916.05. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 3.08%, ICICI Bank up by 2.46%, Tata Motors up by 2.29%, Tata Power up by 2.26% and ONGC up by 2.05%.

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.74%, Idea Cellular down by 1.17%, ACC down by 0.68% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.62% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 218.51 points or 0.99% to 21,919.62, Shanghai Composite decreased 94.13 points or 2.59% to 3,533.78, KOSPI Index decreased 26.59 points or 1.34% to 1,964.06 and Taiwan Weighted decreased 4.79 points or 0.06% to 8,358.49.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 8.15 points or 0.49% to 1,671.66, Jakarta Composite increased 37.39 points or 0.83% to 4,560.04 and Nikkei 225 increased 104.29 points or 0.56% to 18,873.35.

The European markets were trading mixed; Germany’s DAX increased 1.07 points or 0.01% to 10,728.71 and France’s CAC decreased 17.41 points or 0.37% to 4,645.77.