Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in green in early afternoon session, on the back of buying by funds and retail investors. The benchmarks managed to hold their crucial 10,350 (Nifty) and 33,400 (Sensex) mark. Some support came with report that net direct tax collections rose by 15.2 per cent to Rs 4.39 lakh crore between April and October this fiscal. This amounts to 44.8 per cent of the total Budget estimate of direct taxes of Rs 9.8 lakh crore for 2017-18. However, further move were restricted as investors turned cautious ahead of key corporate results. In scrip specific development, Reliance Communications (RCom) was up by over a percent on renegotiating the tower business deal with all interested parties, including Brookfield Infrastructure Group.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. China's trade surplus with the U.S. fell to $26.62 billion in October from $28.08 billion in September. Overall, China's October exports lagged market expectations, rising 6.9 percent from a year earlier while imports beat forecasts, growing 17.2 percent. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33408.94, up by 38.18 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 33331.80 and 33484.70. There were 20 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.11%, IT up by 0.57%, Consumer Disc up by 0.34%, Industrials up by 0.25% and Capital Goods up by 0.25%, while Telecom down by 1.53%, Energy down by 1.12%, Oil & Gas down by 0.89%, Metal down by 0.74% and Consumer Durables down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 3.07%, Axis Bank up by 3.02%, Sun Pharma up by 2.60%, Asian Paints up by 2.42% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.64%, Reliance Industries down by 1.42%, NTPC down by 0.78%, Tata Motors down by 0.70% and SBI down by 0.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move to protect domestic players against cheap imports, India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation against import of a certain kind of paper from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore following complaints from some domestic industry. The West Coast Paper Mills, Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers, Ballarpur Industries and JK Paper had submitted an application with the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) for initiation of anti-dumping investigation into imports of 'Uncoated Paper' from the three countries.

In a notification, DGAD said that it has found sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping of such paper from these countries. This paper is used as a photocopy or copy paper. It also said that the authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry to determine the existence, degree and effect of the alleged dumping and recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry. The period of investigation covers April 2016 to June 2017 (15 months). However, for the purpose of injury investigation, the period will cover the data from 2013-2016.

Countries carry out anti-dumping probe to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practises and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a- vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from countries, including China.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10352.00, up by 1.85 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 10331.95 and 10384.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 3.36%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.99%, Axis Bank up by 2.79%, Sun Pharma up by 2.75% and Asian Paints up by 2.60%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.36%, Yes Bank down by 2.79%, Vedanta down by 2.19%, HPCL down by 1.89% and Reliance Industries down by 1.63% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 36.5 points or 0.13% to 28,957.84, Nikkei 225 was down by 23.78 points or 0.1% to 22,913.82, Jakarta Composite shed 22.62 points or 0.37% to 6,037.83, Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.35 points or 0.2% to 10,818.99 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 2.84 points or 0.16% to 1,748.10.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 0.27 points or 0.01% to 3,413.85 and KOSPI Index was up by 6.96 points or 0.27% to 2,552.40.