Weakness continues on Dalal Street in final session of trade

Indian benchmark indices continued to trade weak in late afternoon session with key gauges trading below their crucial 28,000 (Nifty) and 8,700 (Nifty) levels. Traders remained wary with the Moody's report that there has been a large-scale decline in private investment in PPP projects in recent years because of delays in project approvals and land purchases by the government, complicated dispute resolution mechanisms in the concession agreements and lower than expected revenues due to aggressive assumptions. Depreciation in Indian currency too dampened sentiments. The rupee fell by 13 paise to 66.94 against the dollar in afternoon at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased demand for the American currency from importers.

Better than expected Q2 numbers from Reliance Industries too failed to cheer investors, as it declined over two and a half percent. The company has reported 17.91% rise in its net profit at Rs 7704 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs 6534 crore in Q2FY16 on the back of boom in its petrochemicals business and its giant Jamnagar refinery processed more oil, earning $10.1 for each barrel of crude it converted into fuels.

On the global front, European markets were trading slightly in green, supported by a rally in the banking sector. The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, as it was widely expected. Back home, shares of oil exploration and production companies remained under pressure after crude oil prices declined. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was evenly divided; there were 1,331 shares on the gaining side against 1,335 shares on the losing side, while 241 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27986.59, down by 143.25 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 27957.92 and 28163.41. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.11%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.76%, IT up by 0.47%, TECK up by 0.32% and FMCG up by 0.25%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.71%, Energy down by 1.23%, Metal down by 0.94%, Finance down by 0.55% and Oil & Gas down by 0.46% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.31%, TCS up by 0.76%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.69%, Wipro up by 0.69% and HDFC Bank up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.76%, Reliance Industries down by 2.62%, Axis Bank down by 2.25%, HDFC down by 1.88% and Asian Paints down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a positive news that can cheer the domestic steel makers, the government may impose anti-dumping duty on 21 flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel. Steel secretary Aruna Sharma has said that anti-dumping duty on 21 flat-rolled products of non-alloy steel such as corrugated sheets are in the offing. She further added that the notified provisional anti-dumping duty on 15 wire rod of alloy or non-alloy products would be implemented soon.

Earlier, the Steel Secretary had said that anti-dumping duty is the long-term arrangement for imports and the anti-dumping is WTO-complaint and can be levied for five years. She added that anti-dumping duty per country will be imposed based on evidence.

Following the imposition of minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products in the range of $341-752 per tonne for six months in February, aimed at containing imports, the government in August imposed anti-dumping duty on 107 of these products and extended MIP on the remaining 66 items twice each time for two months in August and in October.

Sharma said that there is no strong evidence of imports causing injury on 30 semi-finished products, including TMT bars and in any case, MIP is there till December 4. Once the dumping duties are imposed, the MIPs become redundant. She has also said that the government will opt for MIP in TMT and Slabs if international prices fall but at present there's no need to have antidumping duty on TMT due to higher international prices.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8661.50, down by 37.90 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 8652.05 and 8709.10. There were 18 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 1.54%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.28%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.14%, Tata Power up by 1.04% and Indusind Bank up by 0.96%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.06%, Axis Bank down by 2.55%, Reliance Industries down by 2.49%, Hindalco down by 2.29% and HDFC down by 1.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 50.91 points or 0.3% to 17,184.59, Taiwan Weighted slipped 10.67 points or 0.11% to 9,306.57, KOSPI Index shed 7.6 points or 0.37% to 2,033.00 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.55 points or 0.07% to 5,400.14. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.18 points or 0.13% to 1,669.36 and Shanghai Composite was up by 6.48 points or 0.21% to 3,090.94.

European markets were trading slightly in green; France’s CAC rose 1.63 points or 0.04% to 4,541.75, UK’s FTSE 100 added 2.06 points or 0.03% to 7,028.96 and Germany’s DAX was up by 9.93 points or 0.09% to 10,711.32.