Indian bourses continue to trade in negative terrain

Indian bourses continued their trade in negative terrain in the noon session with frontline gauges trading below their crucial 27,750 (Sensex) and 8,600 (Nifty) levels. Sentiments remained dampened with the report that the Reserve Bank may not be able to achieve its medium term target of 4% inflation, even if food prices are managed, as health and education prices could play spoil sport. Weak trade in the Asian market following a slide in oil prices too aided to pessimistic milieu. Also, the rupee depreciated against the US dollar after a preliminary survey showed key US services expanded in October, which reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will lift rates before the end of the year. Traders failed to get any sense of relief with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked secretaries at the Centre and chief secretaries in the state to analyse the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Report. Traders were seen piling up positions in FMCG stocks, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Auto, Oil & Gas and Realty sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Hero MotoCorp was down about a percent, even as the two-wheeler manufacturer beat estimates to post its highest-ever profit in the September quarter on strong volume growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red with traders focused on oil-price declines and disappointing data out of China. Profit growth in China’s industrial firms slowed last month from the previous month’s rapid pace as several sectors showed weak activity, suggesting the world’s second-biggest economy remains underpowered.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27704.32, down by 132.19 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 27665.60 and 27843.62. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.31%, while Small cap index was down by 1.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.10%, while Capital Goods down by 1.40%, Consumer Durables down by 1.37%, Auto down by 1.25%, Oil & Gas down by 1.07% and Realty down by 1.06% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.67%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.59%, HDFC up by 1.16%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.75% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.47%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.23%, Wipro down by 2.19%, Tata Motors down by 2.01% and Lupin down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet is likely to consider Finance Ministry's proposal of advancing the date for Budget presentation and decide on the date on which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the budget for 2017-18. The Finance Ministry had earlier proposed that the Budget presentation date be fixed for February 1 and the entire exercise be completed by March 24.

The Cabinet had on September 21 in-principle decided to end the colonial-era tradition of presenting the Union Budget on the last day of February and advance it by about a month to help complete the legislative approval for annual spending plans and tax proposals before beginning of the new financial year on April 1.

Finance Ministry wanted the Budget Session of Parliament to begin before January 25 and go in for a three-week break between February 10-15 before reconvening between March 10-15 to complete the legislative exercise and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the reason we wanted to advance the date was that we want the entire budgetary exercise to be over and the Finance Bill to be passed and implemented from April 1 onwards rather than June because then the monsoon sets in and effectively, the expenditures start in October.

Having decided to advance the Budget presentation by a month, the government took the line that it should not be presented in the middle of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, the assembly elections in these five states is likely to be held in phases, there is a probability that this budget schedule may clash with the campaigning and polling.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8560.95, down by 54.30 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 8550.25 and 8609.90. There were 10 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.75%, ITC up by 1.61%, HDFC up by 1.34%, Sun Pharma Inds. up by 0.85% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.81%, Asian Paints down by 3.58%, Yes Bank down by 3.35%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.61% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.54% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 243.99 points or 1.05% to 23,081.44, Taiwan Weighted shed 62.7 points or 0.67% to 9,299.55, Nikkei 225 slipped 55.42 points or 0.32% to 17,336.42, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 6.04 points or 0.36% to 1,667.88 and Shanghai Composite decreased 4.97 points or 0.16% to 3,111.35. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 10.23 points or 0.51% to 2,024.12 and Jakarta Composite was up by 20.13 points or 0.37% to 5,419.81.