Sensex, Nifty pares early losses but still languish in negative territory

Indian equity markets came off their early lows but still trading in negative territory amid sustained selling in some front line stocks. The 30-share BSE benchmark, which tanked 166 points in initial trade, was down just 38.45 points, while Nifty regained 5,700 mark after going below the that level initially. Meanwhile, investors were worried about crisis still looming over the US and European economy post US presidential election. In currency markets, Indian rupee plunged against dollar amid increasing dollar demand. On sectoral front, metal stocks were finding some support after a weak start. Automobile stocks were trading firm. Select stocks from consumer durables and FMCG sectors were up with smart gains, while capital goods, oil and banking stocks were pulling the market down. On the global front, Asian stock markets reversed earlier session’s gain ahead of European Central Bank meeting, which will be next key trading peg after the US presidential election. Back home, the market breadth favoring negative trend; there were 1,137 shares on the gaining side against 1,219 shares on the losing side while 124 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 18,863.95 down by 38.46 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 18,865.21 and 18,736.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mix note; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.04% and Small cap index was up by 0.16%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Auto up by 1.34% HC up by 0.44%, CD up by 0.41%, FMCG up by 0.26% and Metal up by 0.16%. While, CG down by 0.88%, Oil & Gas down by 0.69%, Power down by 0.56%, IT down by 0.53% and Bankex down by 0.47% were the top losers on the index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.03%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.72%, Sun Pharma up by 1.57%, Wipro up by 0.90% and Cipla up by 0.68%.

On the flip side, GAIL was down by 2.11%, Tata Power was down by 1.88%, L&T was down by 1.35%, ICICI Bank was down by 1.19% and Infosys was down by 1.18% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, giving some relief to the foreign institutional investors (FII), the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has eased the norms to re-invest half of their investments in debt holdings to the next calendar year, starting from January 2014.

SEBI had earlier provided the facility of re-investment up to two years or to the extent of twice the size of debt portfolio, to those FIIs and sub accounts that had already acquired and/ or invested in debt in the manner prescribed. With the latest decision the FII’s will get operational flexibility as once the relaxation is in place, FIIs and their sub-accounts can re-invest 50 per cent of their debt holdings.

The regulator has further said that the utilisation period for government securities and corporate debt limits, allocated through bidding process shall be 30 days and 60 days, respectively and this would be applicable for both old-and long-term infrastructure limits.

Further, SEBI has relaxed the investment limits for FIIs regarding corporate debt in the long-term infrastructure category without obtaining SEBI approval till the overall FII investments reaches 90 per cent of the limit after which the auction mechanism would be initiated for allocation of remaining limits and SEBI would be putting in place a mechanism to monitor the utilisation of the limit.

The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,741.60, down by 18.50 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 5,742.30 and 5,693.95. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Motors up by 5.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.83%, Sun Pharma up by 1.74%, Asian Paints up by 1.57% and Ranbaxy up by 1.19%.

On the flip side, GAIL down by 2.31%, Tata Power down by 1.83%, Siemens down by 1.59%, L&T down by 1.46%, and Infosys down by 1.32% were the major losers on the index.

All the Asian equity indices were trading in the red; Kospi Composite  down by 1.38%, Taiwan Weighted   down by 0.61%, Jakarta Composite  down by 0.86%, Straits Times  down by 1.27%, KLSE Composite down by 0.72%, Hang Seng  down by 1.47%, Nikkei 225 down by 1.51%, Shanghai Composite was down by 1.09%.