Markets trade flat in early deals on final day of 2015

After falling around half a percent in last session, Indian equity markets have made a flat but positive opening and are now trading with marginal gains on the last day of 2015. Traders were getting some encouragement on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 152.20 crore on December 30, 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Meanwhile, the government is planning to allow a single foreign investor to hold as much as 15% in Indian stock exchanges and depositories. Currently, no foreign entity can hold more than 5% in a domestic bourse. However, Investors turned cautious ahead of F&O expiry for the month of December. Traders will roll over their positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month December 2015 series to January 2016 series today.  On the sectoral front, traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, TECK, IT, Realty and Metal, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, PSU, Capital Goods and Auto.

On the global front, the US markets ended lower Wednesday in low volume trade, as a decline in oil prices weighed. Asian markets were trading mostly in red as a renewed slide in oil prices sapped sentiment, a baleful trend that shows every sign of lingering into 2016.

Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,900 and 26,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1199: 635 while 134 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25972.12, up by 12.09 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 25941.91 and 26002.24. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.32%, while Small cap index gained 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.45%, TECK up by 0.41%, IT up by 0.38%, Realty up by 0.36% and Metal up by 0.35%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.28%, PSU down by 0.10%, Capital Goods down by 0.09% and Auto down by 0.06% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 0.58%, Coal India up by 0.57%, HDFC up by 0.51%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.47% and HDFC Bank up by 0.40%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.08%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.49%, GAIL India down by 0.48%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.45% and ITC down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the concerns of slowing growth, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that Indian economy needs to grow by additional 1-1.5 percentage points to sustain wage hike and other benefits given to workers and the poor. He said that “Our country is growing at a good pace of 7.5 per cent at a time when the global economy is experiencing a slowdown, which is appreciable in itself; but we need to increase our growth rate. We have to at least increase it by 1-1.5 per cent”.

Jaitley further said that we need to increase our economic activities as this will result in a rise in revenues, which then can help to reduce additional financial burdens. In the coming year, he said, the Centre would have to bear a burden of Rs. 1.02 lakh crore on account of the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, besides the burden from the one rank one pension for veterans.

He also said that the government is ready to have dialogue with the trade unions with regard to wage increase, as its view is that the benefits of economic development should first accrue to labourers and the poor. He said minimum wages of labour should be at least respectable and take care of inflation.

FM pointed that good monsoon can add cutting edge to growth numbers. He said low global crude oil prices have been a blessing in disguise for the government, helping to bolster resources for higher investment. Recently, the government scaled down its GDP growth estimates in its Mid-Year Economic Analysis for this financial year to 7-7.5% from 8.1-8.5% on account of a rainfall deficit and a slowdown in exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7896.75, up by 0.50 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 7891.15 and 7909.50. There were 17 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 0.89%, Zee Entertainment Enterprises up by 0.77%, Coal India up by 0.54%, Infosys up by 0.49% and Idea Cellular up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Punjab National Bank down by 1.57%, Bank of Baroda down by 1.02%, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation down by 1.10%, GAIL (India) down by 0.65% and Power Grid Corporation of India down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red, Shanghai Composite decreased 21.95 points or 0.61% to 3,550.92, Taiwan Weighted decreased 12.18 points or 0.15% to 8,267.81, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.86 points or 0.11% to 1,691.28 and Hang Seng decreased 0.08 points or 0% to 21,882.07.