Benchmarks trade in red; Nifty slips below 7,750 mark

Indian equity markets erased their gains and started trading in red hovering near the lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters taking weak cues from global counterparts. The sentiments were under pressure as foreign investors continued to be net sellers of Indian shares where they have sold cash shares worth Rs 352 crore yesterday. Traders were seen piling position in Oil & Gas stocks while selling was witnessed in FMCG, Metal and Auto sector stocks. In the scrip specific development, Narayana Hrudayalaya was trading firm after debuting on stock exchanges today. Bharati Shipyard was locked at upper circuit limit as its board will meet tomorrow to consider issue of convertible warrants to non-promoters on preferential basis.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading mostly in red while the European markets were trading on pessimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 7,750 and 25,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1546:1232 while 142 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25435.57, down by 144.77 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 25432.59 and 25632.57. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mix; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.01%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Oil & Gas up by 0.30%, while FMCG down by 1.43%, Metal down by 1.23%, Auto down by 0.80% and Capital Goods down by 0.65%, Realty down by 0.43% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.83%, Cipla up by 1.27%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.91%, TCS up by 0.89% and HDFC Bank up by 0.64%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 2.99%, ICICI Bank down by 2.18%, ONGC down by 2.11%, Tata Steel down by 2.01% and Tata Motors down by 1.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce and industry ministry in its meeting with representatives of industry chambers on January 7 will take up the issues related to manufacturing sector and improving ease of doing business. The meeting assumes significance against the backdrop of declining exports and contraction in the core sector industries.

The meeting will be chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives from industry bodies including CII and Ficci will attend the meet. Further in the meeting, there will be presentations on Make in India, Start-Up India and Ease of Doing business. After the presentations, issues related to these areas will be discussed between the ministry and industry chambers.

Contracting for twelve months 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. Similarly, in its worst performance in seven months, output of the eight core sectors contracted by 1.3 per cent in November from the year-ago period on account of a sharp drop in steel, cement and crude oil production.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7747.00, down by 37.65 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 7746.70 and 7800.95. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 1.80%, Cipla up by 1.43%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.11% and TCS up by 0.92%.

On the flip side, ITC down by 3.00%, ICICI Bank down by 2.36%, Vedanta down by 2.33%, ONGC down by 1.94% and Tata Steel down by 1.91% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 207.91 points or 0.98% to 20,980.81, Nikkei 225 decreased 182.68 points or 0.99% to 18,191.32, Taiwan Weighted decreased 84.72 points or 1.05% to 7,990.39 and KOSPI Index decreased 5.1 points or 0.26% to 1,925.43.

On the other hand; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.08 points or 0.3% to 1,670.78, Jakarta Composite increased 69.06 points or 1.52% to 4,626.88 and Shanghai Composite increased 74.13 points or 2.25% to 3,361.84.

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 50.61 points or 0.82% to 6,086.63, Germany’s DAX decreased 108.46 points or 1.05% to 10,201.64 and France’s CAC decreased 38.37 points or 0.85% to 4,499.26.