Post session - Quick review

Registering fifth consecutive session of loss, benchmark equity indices at D-Street yet again failed to gain any traction, as investors remained finicky about investing into local equities ahead of the outcome of inflation numbers on Friday that will set the tone for the RBI's policy meeting on December 18. Shrugging off mostly positive Asian counterparts, Indian equity markets prolonged its somber mood in absence of any major positive catalyst at home front, with drubbing of heavy blue chip stocks, viz., ITC, Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, L&T, prompting massive losses at D-street. Index Heavyweight, ITC, witnessing nasty laceration of over 4%, emerged as the top loser, after FTSE lowered its free float weighting for the cigarette maker in its global equity index series, according to the website of the index provider. Sentiments also remained fragile in absence of any constructive work being done in Parliament, with Samajwadi Party (SP) creating a ruckus over the quota bill and an angry deputy chairman PJ Kurien asking that its member be evicted.

Pressure also crept in from Consumer Durables (CD), Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Realty Counters, which languishing at the bottom, endorsed the underlying weakness of the bourses. Much of the drubbing that came in the afternoon deals, took 30 share index, Sensex, closing near 19200 level, with a loss of over century of points. Similarly, widely followed index, Nifty, too knocked off over half a percent, to shut shop below 5850 psychological level. Additionally, broader indices too failed to negotiate a positive close and concluded with loss of close to a percent.

On the global front, Asian shares concluded mostly in green for a seventh consecutive session on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve took new stimulus steps to bolster the economy, pressuring the yen with expectations the Japanese central bank will follow suit with more easing next week. The Fed said it will buy $45 billion in Treasuries each month on top of the $40 billion per month of mortgage-backed bonds it started buying in September. Meanwhile, European shares were trading into red terrain as investors balanced a new monetary boost from the U.S. Federal Reserve with lingering concerns that austerity measures could derail the world's largest economy.

Closer home, stocks from Interest sensitive- auto were only spared by investors, which led the index negotiating a close with gains of over 3 / 4 percent. In sector specific action, telecom stocks staged a mixed close ahead of government meeting for discussing the recommendations made by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on pricing of spectrum that remained unsold in the recently conducted auction on November 14, 2012.  Additionally, banking stocks, namely, HDFC Bank, SBI, Canara Bank and Bank Of India, also witnessed nasty pounding on dampened hopes of rate cut, with investor’s now turning focus to November Inflation, due to release on December 14, 2012. The market breadth on the BSE ended negative; advances and declining stocks were in a ratio of 1110: 1823 while 122 scrips remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The BSE Sensex lost 144.33 points or 0.75% and settled at 19210.93. The index touched a high and a low of 19421.72 and 19196.75 respectively. 8 stocks were seen advancing while 22 stocks were declining on the index (Provisional)

The BSE Mid-cap index was down by 1.17% while Small-cap index was down by 1.00%. (Provisional)

On the BSE Sectoral front, Auto up 0.85 while Consumer Durables down by 2.87%, FMCG down by 2.81%, Realty down by 1.62%, CG down by 1.38% and Power down by 1.21% were the top losers in the space.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up 3.91%, Jindal Steel up by 2.02%, Bharti Airtel up 0.98%, Bajaj Auto up 0.97% and ICICI Bank up 0.89%, while, ITC down by 3.61%, Sterlite Inds down by 3.10%, BHEL down by 2.22%, Hindalco Inds down by 2.11% and NTPC down by 2.09% were the top losers in the index. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in a move to bring more clarity, the Revenue Department has submitted amendments to the controversial law against tax avoidance - General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to the Prime Minister's Office.  While welcoming an Australian delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Wayne Swan, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said India is working towards clarity in tax laws, a non-adversarial tax administration and fair mechanism of dispute regulation to promote investor confidence.

GAAR, which was proposed in Budget 2012-13 to prevent tax avoidance, received sharp reactions from foreign as well as domestic investors who feared that uninhibited powers to taxmen would result in harassment of investors. Following which the government deferred GAAR implementation to April 1, 2013. Further, the government appointed Parthasarathy Shome Committee to look into their concerns, which had suggested modification in laws dealing with GAAR and retrospective tax law.

On India-Australia trade partnership, he said that it has led to a rapid expansion in trade and investment ties between two countries and has more than doubled in the past six years to more than $20 billion. By adding further he said, there is a huge opportunity for increase in investments from Australia into India particularly in sectors like mines and minerals based industry, clean and renewable energy, food processing bio-technology, marine and fishery among others.

India VIX, a gauge for markets short term expectation of volatility gain 1.37% at 14.71 from its previous close of 14.51 on Friday. (Provisional)

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 36.50 points or 0.62% to settle at 5,851.50. The index touched high and low of 5,907.45 and 5,841.35 respectively. 16 stocks advanced against 34 declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Motors was up 4.05%, Jindal Steel up 2.06%, Bharti Airtel up 1.14%, Bajaj Auto up 0.99 % and ICICI Bank was up 0.87%. On the other hand, ITC down 3.60%, Sesa Goa down by 3.25%, BHEL down by 2.34%, Reliance infra down by 2.17% and IDFC down by 2.15% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red with, France’s CAC 40 down 0.33%, Germany’s DAX down 0.66% and the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 down 0.27%.

Asian markets went home on mixed note after US Federal Reserve added more monetary stimulus, which revealed that it will not lift interest rates until unemployment was under control. Japan’s Nikkei ended higher after touching eight-month high as yen extended its weakness. However, mainland Chinese shares closed lower, weighted by weakness in the resource sector, while Hong Kong markets plunged on mild profit-taking pressure. South Korean and Taiwanese shares made strong advances on fresh U.S. Federal Reserve policy.