Markets off days' low in late afternoon session

Indian equity indices recovered some of their losses but continued to trade in a negative terrain in late afternoon session tracking weak global cues and lingering concerns about near term economic impact of the government's demonetization move. Investors remained cautious ahead of November F&O expiry due later today. Meanwhile, the much-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting, slated for Friday, has been postponed by a week that too impacted the sentiments. On the global front, European stocks were trading mostly in green as economic data gave more emphasis to a US rate hike after the data released on Wednesday showed that new manufacturing orders and consumer sentiment increasing in the US in the month of October, giving further reasons for a rate hike next month, when the Federal Reserve meets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26003.71, down by 48.10 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 25810.97 and 26049.14. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.82%, Metal up by 1.31%, TECK up by 1.30%, PSU up by 0.25% and Capital Goods up by 0.20%, while Auto down by 0.88%, Bankex down by 0.77%, Oil & Gas down by 0.64%, Realty down by 0.40% and Consumer Durables down by 0.27% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.72%, TCS up by 2.15%, Infosys up by 1.90%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.63% and Wipro up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.52%, NTPC down by 1.84%, Axis Bank down by 1.59%, Adani Ports &Special down by 1.52% and GAIL India down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog is all set to get a broader preview, going beyond the traditional areas of planning and look at internal security, defence, social and development goals. Government has said that Niti Aayog will prepare three inter-connected documents, with differing time horizons.

With the 12th five-year plan drawing to a close, the government think tank has prepared an exercise for the long term with a proposal to formulate a 15-year vision agenda. As part of its appraisal for the 12th five-year plan, the Aayog will prepare a vision document keeping in view the social goals set and or proposed and sustainable development goals (SDGs) for about 15 years for the period up to 2030 which is co-terminus with the period to achieve SDGs. This vision document, or perspective plan, will be formulated with a central objective of eliminating poverty.

To convert the long-term vision into implementable policies, it will also prepare a seven-year National Development Agenda (NDA) from 2017-18 to 2023-24. To take stock of the implementation of the vision, a mid-term review will be done during the year ending March 2020.

Besides, that it will also prepare a three-year Action document for 2017-18 to 2019-20 aligned to the predictability of financial resources during the 14th Finance Commission Award period to help translate into actions the goals of the government to be achieved by 2019.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8013.45, down by 19.85 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 7954.90 and 8013.65. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 3.94%, Power Grid up by 2.70%, Bank of Baroda up by 2.65%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.37% and TCS up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.55%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.55%, Eicher Motors down by 2.51%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.23% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite dipped 104.98 points or 2.01% to 5,107.01, Hang Seng decreased 68.2 points or 0.3% to 22,608.49, Taiwan Weighted slipped 26.12 points or 0.28% to 9,152.11, KOSPI Index dropped 16.69 points or 0.84% to 1,971.26 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.71 points or 0.29% to 1,625.67. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite increased 0.6 points or 0.02% to 3,241.74 and Nikkei 225 was up by 170.47 points or 0.94% to 18,333.41.

European markets were trading slightly in green; France’s CAC increased 1.96 points or 0.04% to 4,531.17 and Germany’s DAX was up by 18 points or 0.17% to 10,680.44, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 13.25 points or 0.19% to 6,804.46.