Markets continue lackluster trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity indices continued their volatile trade, trading in negative territory in late noon session, as investors turned cautions after India’s GDP grew lower than expected in the September quarter at 7.3%, as compared to 7.6% in the same quarter last year. Sentiments remained dampened with report indicating that Indian factory activity decelerated sharply last month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's currency crackdown that led to a rationing of cash and cooled domestic consumption, new orders and production. The Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.3 in November from October's 54.4, its biggest month-on-month decline since March 2013. Lower opening of European counterparts also weighed on sentiments. European markets were trading slightly in red as investors focused on political developments in Italy and key data releases after the oil-producing cartel OPEC agreed to cut production.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26589.33, down by 63.48 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 26581.26 and 26769.32. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 0.89%, while Small cap index was down by 0.37%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.37%, FMCG up by 0.28% and IT up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 1.48%, Power down by 1.31%, Bankex down by 1.21%, Realty down by 1.00% and PSU down by 0.93% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 4.05%, ONGC up by 1.51%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.28%, Sun Pharma up by 0.82% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.79%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.99%, Asian Paints down by 3.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.05%, ICICI Bank down by 2.43% and Tata Motors down by 1.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in line with global trends, PSU oil marketing companies (OMCs) have raised price of petrol by 13 paise a litre and have slashed diesel rates by 12 paise per litre. Revised prices will take effective from the midnight of November 30 and December 1.

Post the revision, the price of petrol in Delhi will be Rs 66.10 a litre, 17 paisa more than Rs 65.93 a litre currently, whereas a litre of diesel will cost Rs 54.57, 14 paisa lower than Rs 54.71 a litre currently. In the last revision on November 16, the price of petrol was cut by Rs 1.46 a litre and diesel rate was also cut by Rs1.53 per litre, excluding state levies.

According to IOC the country's largest fuel retailer, the current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and the INR-USD exchange rate warrant increase in selling price of petrol and decrease in selling prices of diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision. It added that the movement of prices in the international oil market and rupee-dollar exchange rate will be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8215.80, down by 8.70 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 8202.10 and 8250.80. There were 23 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 4.35%, GAIL India up by 4.06%, Eicher Motors up by 3.19%, ONGC up by 1.71% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 4.26%, Power Grid down by 3.86%, Asian Paints down by 3.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.14% and ICICI Bank down by 2.41% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; KOSPI Index rose 0.27 points or 0.01% to 1,983.75, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI jumped 7.86 points or 0.49% to 1,626.98, Taiwan Weighted increased 22.82 points or 0.25% to 9,263.53, Shanghai Composite advanced 23.27 points or 0.72% to 3,273.31, Jakarta Composite surged 42.8 points or 0.83% to 5,191.71, Hang Seng added 88.46 points or 0.39% to 22,878.23 and Nikkei 225 was up by 204.64 points or 1.12% to 18,513.12.

All the European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX slipped 25.05 points or 0.24% to 10,615.25, France’s CAC decreased 4.25 points or 0.09% to 4,574.09 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 4.2 points or 0.06% to 6,779.59.