Benchmarks continue to trade choppy in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade choppy in afternoon deals as investors remained on sidelines ahead of third quarter earnings results starting next week with Infosys slated to announce its results on January 14, 2016. Sentiments also remained dampened with retail inflation for farm labourers and rural workers in November rising to 4.92 percent and 5.02 percent, respectively, due to increase in prices of food items. Asian share markets were trading mostly in red at this point of time as a semblance of calm returned to Chinese stocks, though more wild swings appeared likely given the uncertain global outlook for economic growth and interest rates.

Back home, banks which are a proxy to the economy are one of the top losers amid weak December manufacturing PMI. Select stocks related to auto space continue to face selling pressure post the December sales numbers. However, shares of the companies engaged in hotel business are in focus after Goldman Sachs has bought minority stake in Indian hotel investment and development firm SAMHI Hotels. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 1,803 shares on the gaining side against 822 shares on the losing side while 121 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25606.76, down by 16.59 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 25513.75 and 25766.76. 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 0.23%, while Small cap index up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.99%, Utilities up by 0.96%, Oil & Gas up by 0.85%, Consumer Durables up by 0.70% and Power up by 0.51%, while Telecom down by 0.52%, Bankex down by 0.43%, TECK down by 0.38%, IT down by 0.38% and FMCG down by 0.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.67%, Tata Steel up by 2.26%, GAIL India up by 2.22%, ONGC up by 1.43% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.50%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.16%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.99%, TCS down by 0.80% and Axis Bank down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce Ministry wants to create a fund aimed at boosting India's shrinking exports, proposing a financing mechanism that would discourage exports of raw material and help local value addition. On January 6 the Ministry of Commerce & Industry is likely to pitch the idea of the export development fund in pre-Budget consultations with the finance ministry.

The Commerce Ministry will suggest that the government provide 50% of the funds, while the remainder can come from taxation of exports of raw material such as iron ore. This fund will solve the twin purpose of financing exports and help in their marketing as there is a need for aggressive marketing for the exports at this point of time, particularly of small and medium enterprises.

Earlier, in order to boost shipments, the government had increased support for products made by SMEs such as industrial machinery, machine tools, bicycle parts and hand tools used in agriculture, among others, and raised allocations under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme to Rs 21,000 crore from Rs 18,000 crore.

Contracting for the twelve month in a row, India’s exports plunged 24 percent in November to $20 million. The significant fall in exports is attributed to weak global demand, amid a tepid global economic recovery. April-November exports fell 18.5% from a year ago. Only seven of top 30 export goods, including carpets, jute products and tea, registered an increase in November, compared with nine in October. The constant decline in exports has raised doubts about the country achieving last year's export number of $310.5 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7792.80, up by 1.50 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 7763.25 and 7831.20. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 2.78%, Asian Paints up by 2.72%, Tata Steel up by 2.61%, GAIL India up by 2.14% and ONGC up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 1.72%, Coal India down by 1.45%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.31%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.29% and PNB down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 153.52 points or 0.72% to 21,173.60, Nikkei 225 declined 76.98 points or 0.42% to 18,374.00, Shanghai Composite tumbled 49.85 points or 1.51% to 3,246.40 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 39.15 points or 0.48% to 8,075.11.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 11.77 points or 0.61% to 1,930.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 16.43 points or 0.99% to 1,669.80 and Jakarta Composite was up by 49.09 points or 1.08% to 4,575.01.