Benchmarks trim losses; Nifty trades 7,500 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have pared most of their losses but continued to trades in red, in early noon session. Sentiments were weighted down on sustained capital outflows after a rout in global stock markets following overnight sell-off on Wall Street. Meanwhile, session was also harrowing for broader markets were underperforming the larger peers with BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices trading down by 0.85% and 0.91%, respectively. Moreover, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 75.90 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Traders were seen piling position in IT and TECK, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Metal, Capital Goods, Reality and Bankex sector stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as Brent crude oil skidded to 12-year lows amid a commodities rout that heightened fears about the global economy. Back home, both the sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 24,800 and 7,550 levels, respectively.  In scrip specific development, shares of Redington (India) was trading over 5% after the HDFC Mutual Fund (MF) has acquired 2% stake in the company for Rs 88 crore through open market. Marsons was trading higher after the company has partnered with engineering major Siemens. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 24766.60, down by 87.51 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 24473.22 and 24777.54. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.85%, while Small cap index down by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.39% and TECK up by 1.74%, while Auto down by 1.67%, Metal down by 1.63%, Capital Goods down by 1.43%, Realty down by 1.42% and Bankex down by 1.27% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 4.73%, Asian Paints up by 0.56%, Lupin up by 0.52%, TCS up by 0.40% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.91%, Tata Motors down by 3.13%, Axis Bank down by 2.71%, BHEL down by 1.93% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Overseas Investments or outward foreign direct investments by Indian firms in the month of December fell to $1.15 billion from $2.61 billion in the same month last fiscal, according to the RBI data. The overseas investments in the month of November 2015 stood at $2 billion. Direct investments by Indian firms overseas more than halved from a year ago in December.

The total outward foreign direct investment of $1.15 billion was in the form of equity, loan and issue of guarantee. Of the total investment equity, loan and issue of guarantee stood at $261.76 million, $219.96 million and $663.56 million respectively in the month of December 2015 as compared to $223.12 million, $210.84 million and $2177.59 million respectively during December 2014.

Major overseas investors during the month were Emcure Pharmaceuticals with a combined investment of $102.45 million in Canadian and Nigerian wholly owned units (WOS) for manufacturing, GAIL India in US for agriculture and mining with investment of $114 million in a WOS, Essar Steel India in UAE based WOS with investment of $58.92 million for manufacturing. Other investors include Hasham Traders PI International Holdings in the US-based wholly-owned subsidiary with an investment of $55.6 million in services.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7529.65, down by 32.75 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 7443.80 and 7532.50. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.72%, HCL up by 1.52%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.47%, Asian Paints up by 0.67% and Lupin up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.65%, Tata Motors down by 3.35%, Axis Bank down by 2.63%, Hindalco down by 2.54% and Ultratech Cement down by 2.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 544.48 points or 3.07% to 17,171.15, Hang Seng decreased 150.5 points or 0.75% to 19,784.38, Taiwan Weighted decreased 81.73 points or 1.04% to 7,742.88, Jakarta Composite decreased 77.86 points or 1.72% to 4,459.32, KOSPI Index decreased 17.8 points or 0.93% to 1,898.48 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.59 points or 0.46% to 1,634.95, while Shanghai Composite increased 11.96 points or 0.41% to 2,961.56.