Benchmarks continue weak trade in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks traded on weak note in late morning session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure as investors remained cautious in the lack of any major domestic as well as global cues. The rupee opened down against the US dollar amid buying of the greenback by banks and exporters. Foreign portfolio investors stood net sellers in the domestic equity market on Friday, having sold shares worth Rs 405.66 crore with gross purchases and gross sales of Rs 3,978.44 crore and Rs 4,384.10 crore, respectively. Oil prices rose on in anticipation of tighter crude supply going into 2017 following the decision by OPEC and other producers to cut output to prop up prices. The sentiments were under pressure after the industry body ASSOCHAM in its latest report has said that prospects of interest rate cut in near future may be bleak due to factors like continuous pressure on rupee against dollar, firming of the US interest rates and hardening of crude oil prices. The street failed to take some support with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari statement that India’s infrastructure sector has the potential of boosting GDP growth up to 3% and efforts are being put in by the centre to achieve this objective. Traders were seen piling up position in Oil & Gas, PSU and Power stocks, while selling was witnessed in TECK, Consumer Durables and IT sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Tree House Education & Accessories were locked at lower circuit limit after the proposed merger with Zee Learn fell apart. Zee Learn said that the company took cognizance of the recent adverse media reports about Tree House closing down hundreds of its playgroup centres, which pushed many parents filing police complaints against the company and its promoters.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly on cautious note. There is easing worries about rising diplomatic tensions between the world’s two biggest economic powers after China agreed to return a US drone it had seized. A Chinese warship seized a US underwater drone in the South China Sea, which triggered a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return. Japan’s Nikkei was trading under pressure. Japan’s November exports fell 0.4% year-on-year, boosted by a weaker yen and recovery in overseas demand. Imports fell 8.8%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1036:974, while 117 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26449.25, down by 40.31 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 26369.28 and 26505.66. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.04%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.50%, PSU up by 0.62%, Power up by 0.16%, Bankex up by 0.04% and Metal up by 0.03%, while TECK down by 0.40%, Consumer Durables down by 0.37%, IT down by 0.36%, Realty down by 0.33% and Capital Goods down by 0.19% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 2.26%, ICICI Bank up by 0.98%, Lupin up by 0.63%, Reliance Industries up by 0.54% and ITC up by 0.51%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.19%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.14%, Sun Pharma down by 1.06%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.84% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India’s infrastructure sector has the potential of boosting GDP growth up to 3% and efforts are being put in by the centre to achieve this objective. The minister said that the government has accorded the highest prominence to infrastructure. He added that the development of integrated logistics and inland waterways would be a game changer, the government is planning to develop an integrated system of roads, railways, airports and water ports and is also working on port-led industrialization.

Gadkari said that infrastructure as a sector is not just an employment generator, but is also a growth engine. By ensuring that land acquisition processes are made less complicated and improving cross ministerial coordination to get projects cleared and off the ground, the cost of projects has been optimized. This has facilitated the return of investor interest in road projects. Initiatives like construction of 40 kilometers of roads every day, building the 14 express-highways and exploring the potential of in-land waterways can boost our GDP growth by 2-3%.

Highlighting the huge potential for the port sector, Gadkari stated that the shipping sector made a profit of about Rs 6,000 crore in this year and intends to make this figure Rs 7,000 crore in the next year. Further he added that to relieve from rising traffic and pollution, government is looking at electric modes of transport to address the problem of pollution in the Capital over the next 400 days.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8125.10, down by 14.35 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 8105.35 and 8128.60. There were 21 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Aurobindo Pharma up by 2.53%, GAIL India up by 2.46%, BPCL up by 1.27%, Tata Power up by 1.24% and Idea Cellular up by 1.05%.

On the flip side, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.36%, Asian Paints down by 1.29%, Sun Pharma down by 1.15%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.10% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.88% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 168.42 points or 0.76% to 21,852.33, Taiwan Weighted decreased 79.76 points or 0.86% to 9,247.02, Nikkei 225 decreased 11 points or 0.06% to 19,390.15, Jakarta Composite decreased 2.63 points or 0.05% to 5,229.02 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.54 points or 0.16% to 1,635.25.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite increased 0.25 points or 0.01% to 3,123.23 and KOSPI Index increased 0.52 points or 0.03% to 2,042.76.