Benchmarks continue lackluster trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their lackluster trade hovering near the neutral line in late afternoon session in absence of any upside triggers. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of third quarter earnings results starting next week with Infosys slated to announce its results on January 14, 2016. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that public investments must lead the way during global slowdown and that India has an opportunity to spend more on infrastructure thanks to low oil, commodities and mineral prices, failed to provide any upside support. Traders were seen piling position in Metal, Oil & Gas and Realty stocks while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK and Bankex sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, SITI Cable Network was trading firm after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed foreign investors to buy up to 49% in the company.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above the psychological 7,750 and 25,600 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1976:793 while 104 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25610.50, down by 12.85 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 25513.75 and 25766.76. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.37%, while Small cap index up by 0.72%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.89%, Oil & Gas up by 1.42%, Realty up by 0.82%, Consumer Durables up by 0.70% ans Capital Goods up by 0.63%, while IT down by 0.49%, TECK down by 0.46%, Bankex down by 0.35%, FMCG down by 0.20% and Auto down by 0.10% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 6.79%, GAIL India up by 2.36%, Asian Paints up by 2.05%, ONGC up by 1.68% and Reliance Industries up by 1.16%.

On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.56%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.18%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.16%, TCS down by 1.09% and Infosys down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has said that the government is working on a policy to reform food and fertiliser subsidy, which is pegged at Rs 2 lakh crore this year and which accounts for about 80% of the total subsidy bill. Besides, the government will also unveil more steps to deal with the mounting problem of non-performing loans of PSU banks. Das further said that the various possibilities are under consideration for food and fertilizer and there is a need for subsidy reform, at the same time the government has to take into account state of the rural economy, as well as state of farming community.

Das highlighted that along with growth revival and jobs generation, rural and agriculture sector has also become priority for the government after two years of bad monsoon adding that agriculture sector is very important because the rural purchasing power comes from there.

Meanwhile, the DEA (Department of Economic Affairs) secretary charged with managing the country's economy, admitted that bad loans of state-run banks - impaired assets stand at 12.6% of advances - are a problem but says the government is working on it.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7795.40, up by 4.10 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 7763.25 and 7831.20. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 6.62%, Vedanta up by 3.99%, Hindalco up by 2.72%, GAIL India up by 2.35% and Asian Paints up by 1.98%.

On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 2.25%, Power Grid down by 1.49%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.47%, Coal India down by 1.47% and PNB down by 1.42% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 138.4 points or 0.65% to 21,188.72, Nikkei 225 decreased 76.98 points or 0.42% to 18,374.00, Taiwan Weighted decreased 39.15 points or 0.48% to 8,075.11 and Shanghai Composite decreased 8.55 points or 0.26% to 3,287.71.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9.16 points or 0.55% to 1,662.53, KOSPI Index increased 11.77 points or 0.61% to 1,930.53 and Jakarta Composite increased 45.98 points or 1.02% to 4,571.90.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 15.65 points or 0.35% to 4,538.10, Germany’s DAX increased 25.08 points or 0.24% to 10,308.52 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 41.66 points or 0.68% to 6,135.09.