Weakness persists over Dalal Street

Weakness persisted over Dalal Street in late afternoon session, on account of weak cues from European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices were too lingering under pressure in late afternoon deals. Domestic sentiments remained pessimistic, amid a private report stating that corporate India is forecasting deteriorating growth for the October-December period this year as optimism for new orders and sales prices have hit the lowest level in nearly 18 years. The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index stood at 56.4 for December quarter this year, registering a decline of 19.5 percent as compared to the year-ago period.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Finland's industrial production fell for the first time in four months in September. The figures from Statistics Finland showed that industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent month-on-month in September, after a 0.6 percent rise in August. Manufacturing output decreased 0.9 percent.  Asian markets were also trading in red.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40501.51, down by 152.23 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 40452.26 and 40749.33. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.39%, while Small cap index was down by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.97%, Bankex up by 1.08%, Consumer Durables up by 0.48% and Auto up by 0.03%, while FMCG down by 1.63%, Metal down by 1.32%, Oil & Gas down by 1.32%, PSU down by 1.30%, Healthcare down by 1.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.89%, Indusind Bank up by 3.57%, ICICI Bank up by 2.79%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.22% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.79%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.94%, Vedanta down by 2.64%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.40%, TCS down by 1.91% and ONGC down by 1.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government may impose 25 percent provisional safeguard duty on imports of single-mode optical fibre from all countries. This follows a Commerce Ministry investigation initiated by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in September after domestic industry complained. It found a sudden and significant surge in the imports of the fibre. However, certain developing countries would be exempted from this decision. The single-mode optical fibre is used for signal transmission with certain bands and for manufacturing optical fibre cable.

DGTR said the preliminary findings concluded that the product is being imported in increased quantities and may cause a serious damage to the domestic industry. It also said existing critical circumstances justify the immediate imposition of a provisional safeguard duty in order to save the domestic industry manufacturing like or directly competitive products.

The application for the DGTR investigation was made by Sterlite Technologies and Birla Furukawa Fibre Optics. The applicants had claimed that their profitability has considerably declined during this period and they are running in losses. They have also claimed that because the imports are coming at low prices, their companies were forced to reduce their prices, which has resulted in significant price depression.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11944.35, down by 67.70 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 11943.25 and 12034.15. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.44%, Indusind Bank up by 3.23%, ICICI Bank up by 2.58%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.66% and Eicher Motors up by 1.64%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 4.35%, Sun Pharma down by 4.18%, Bharti Infratel down by 4.05%, UPL down by 3.65% and Vedanta down by 3.01% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 216.47 points or 0.78% to 27,630.76, Jakarta Composite lost 3.61 points or 0.06% to 6,162.01, Taiwan Weighted dropped 27.02 points or 0.23% to 11,579.54, Shanghai Composite declined 12.95 points or 0.43% to 2,965.76, KOSPI fell 7.06 points or 0.33% to 2,137.23 and Straits Times was down by 30.32 points or 0.92% to 3,255.40. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 61.55 points or 0.26% to 23,391.87.

All European markets were trading in red; FTSE lost 33.98 points or 0.46% to 7,372.43, CAC fell 28.20 points or 0.48% to 5,862.79 and DAX was down by 57.12 points or 0.43% to 13,232.34.