Markets continue to trade in red in noon session

The Indian markets continued to trade in red in the afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters tailing weak global counterparts, as concerns over the global central banks' ability to stimulate growth continued to hurt risk-appetite. Sentiments also remained down with reports that in September, rainfall fell 15 per cent below average, which could mean the season will end up in deficit. Further, depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened the sentiments. The rupee depreciated by 16 paise to 67.05 against the dollar due to rise in greenback against other currencies overseas. However, losses remained capped with report stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reviewed preparations for roll out of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, possibly from April 1 next year, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team making a presentation on the milestones achieved and the road ahead. Traders were seen piling up positions in FMCG and Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in Banking, PSU, Consumer Durables and Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Reliance Communications rose over 1 percent after the Anil Ambani-led company agreed to merge its wireless telecom business with smaller rival Aircel to create India's third biggest telecom operator in terms of subscriber base.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the mixed lead overnight from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices. Further, Investors remained cautious ahead of monetary policy meetings by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan next week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28353.15, down by 19.08 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 28311.11 and 28432.74. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.02% and Realty up by 0.42%, while Bankex down by 0.94%, PSU down by 0.74%, Consumer Durables down by 0.71%, Metal down by 0.68% and Oil & Gas down by 0.65% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 1.92%, ITC up by 1.67%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.27%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.13% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.91%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.94%, Tata Steel down by 1.73%, Power Grid Corpn. down by 1.42% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency, ICRA in its latest report has said that Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme, which was launched by the centre to improve performances of the state power distribution companies, will benefit power distribution companies (Discom) significantly in the near to medium-term. However, it also cautioned that strict focus on improving efficiency, timeliness and tariff hike adequacy will be critical for their financial turnaround in the long-run.

Rating agency stated that Discoms will benefit significantly with different measures taken by the government under UDAY scheme like lower interest costs arising out of de-leveraging, and reduction in cost of power procurement arising out of improved domestic coal availability and flexible utilisation of domestic coal linkage and e-auction process for short-term power, as these would reduce cost of power purchase.

The report also pointed that state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) in only 20 out of 29 states have issued tariff orders for FY2017 so far, indicating moderate progress in terms of issuance of tariff orders for the year. Till now 16 states and union territories have signed memorandum of understanding for participating in UDAY. De-leveraging and refinancing under the scheme is expected to improve liquidity and profitability profile of Discom's in the near term.

UDAY was launched by the centre to improve performances of the state power distribution companies. ICRA has said that improved domestic coal availability along with recent policy measures by the government such as flexible utilisation of domestic coal linkage and e-auction process for short term power remain favourable for discoms in terms of likely reduction in cost of power purchase.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8718.15, down by 8.45 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 8704.35 and 8749.20. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 2.01%, Cipla up by 1.88%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.30%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.17% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.98%, Yes Bank down by 2.60%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.03%, Bank Of Baroda down by 2.02% and Tata Steel down by 1.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 209.23 points or 1.26% to 16,405.01 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.22 points or 0.43% to 1,654.17. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 63.61 points or 1.24% to 5,209.65 and Hang Seng increased 120.9 points or 0.52% to 23,311.54.