Markets pare most of their gains in first hour of trade

The Indian markets after a gap-up start have given up almost all their gains in very first hour of trade and were trading flat with selling spreading across the board. The sentiments that took support of the jubilation in the Asian peers after the OPEC nations successfully reached a deal to cut production, fizzled out in no time and the major benchmarks slipped into red on profit taking. Traders were reacting to GDP data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) which showed that the economy grew an annual 7.3% in the July-September quarter, marginally faster than previous quarter's expansion of 7.1%; but lower than the expectation of 7.5%. Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has said that GDP growth numbers for the first half of the current fiscal have revealed a good and consistent performance but lot of uncertainty remains on the outlook for the second half. Market men overlooked the report of eight core industries growth surging to its six months high at 6.6 percent and rupee continued to rise for the second consecutive day. While the broader markets too have lost the way, on the sectoral front, telecom, industrials, auto and banking were witnessing selling pressure, while energy and healthcare were holding the early gains.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26683.61, up by 30.80 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 26608.96 and 26769.32. 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 0.22%, while Small cap index tad higher by 0.01%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.31% and PSU up by 0.14%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.34%, Power down by 0.31%, IT down by 0.25%, TECK down by 0.24% and Metal down by 0.21% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 3.20%, GAIL India up by 3.07%, Reliance Industries up by 1.39%, HDFC up by 0.87% and Lupin up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.63%, Tata Motors down by 1.27%, Power Grid down by 1.20%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08% and Adani Ports &Special down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, marking the start of the new era is all set to be operational from December 1, 2016. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner. Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley has said that there are a lot of expectations from the new insolvency mechanism and expressed confidence that it would deliver the desired results in years to come.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has been set up under the Code that seeks to consolidate and amend laws relating to reorganisation as well as insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time-bound manner. As many as 15 insolvency professionals and three insolvency professional agencies have already been registered with the IBBI. So far, four sets of regulations have been issued by the IBBI. These pertain to resolution process for corporate persons, insolvency professionals, model bye-laws and governing board of insolvency professional agencies, and the insolvency professional agencies. With the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) becoming redundant, corporate insolvencies will now be dealt by the National Company Law Tribunal and proprietorship and partnership insolvencies by the Debt Recovery Tribunal.

A firm registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 -- having a minimum net worth of Rs 10 crore and a paid-up capital of Rs 5 crore -- will be eligible to be an insolvency professional agency. Among others, advocates, chartered accountants, company secretaries and cost accountants with 15 years of experience in their respective fields can serve as insolvency professionals.

The apex body of company secretaries, Institute of Company Secretaries of India’s (ICSI) President, Mamta Binani has said that the Code will help quicker resolution of cases and unlock value of assets. She said that both ICSI and ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) have registered not-for-profit companies under the Code to act as insolvency professional agencies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8222.90, down by 1.60 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 8202.10 and 8250.80. There were 21 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 3.03%, ONGC up by 2.72%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.67%, Reliance Industries up by 1.65% and Zee Entertainment up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.72%, BPCL down by 2.17%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.67%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.56% and Power Grid Corpn. down by 1.43% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green, KOSPI Index increased by 2.61 points or 0.13% to 1,986.09, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 8.05 points or 0.5% to 1,627.17, Shanghai Composite was higher by 17.04 points or 0.52% to 3,267.08, Taiwan Weighted gained 30.54 points or 0.33% to 9,271.25, Jakarta Composite gained 50.49 points or 0.98% to 5,199.40, Hang Seng increased 156.3 points or 0.69% to 22,946.07 and Nikkei 225 surged by 386.13 points or 2.11% to 18,694.61.