Benchmarks end flat ahead of US jobs data

Indian equity benchmarks ended the Tuesday’s trading session slightly in the red, as investors across the globe remained sidelines ahead of US jobs data that could shape expectations as to whether the Federal Reserve will start withdrawing stimulus this year. In Indian context traders were also cautious ahead of RBI policy review next week. Moreover, investors sentiments were dampened after Indian rupee depreciated against dollar due to month-end dollar demand from importers.

However, losses remained capped as some support came in from, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister C Rangarajan’s statement that Current Account Deficit (CAD) will go down well below $70 billion this fiscal. There was some good news for the manufacturing sector too, as the Commerce and Industry Ministry is reportedly working on a proposal on giving interest subsidy to the sector and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is considering an interest subvention of 3-4 percent, which could help in shoring up growth in the sector.

Global cues too remained subdued with most of the Asian equity benchmarks ending in the negative terrain with Shanghai Composite declining over half a percent, led by property developers, on concern that the government may introduce measures to contain housing prices after they climbed in all but one city the government tracks. Moreover, European counters too traded choppy in early deals, as market participants braced themselves for the release of a closely watched US labour market report.

Back home, sentiments got some boost from report that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1031.79 crore on October 21, 2013. Some support also came in after Yes Bank reported better-than-expected Q2 numbers. The bank reported a rise of 21.25% in its net profit at Rs 371.13 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 as compared to Rs 306.08 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. Meanwhile, sugar stocks like Bajaj Hindusthan, Shree Renuka Sugar, Balrampur Chini, Mawana Sugars and Rana Sugars all edged higher for second day in a row on report that India’s sugar output dropped by 4.5% to 25.14 million tonnes in 2012-13 marketing year ended last month, due to lower crushing and recovery levels in key producing states.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty declined marginally to hold its psychological 6,200 level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensitive Index -- Sensex dropped by around thirty points to end below the psychological 20,900 mark.

Broader markets, however, outperformed benchmarks and ended the session with gain of around a percentage point. The market breadth remained in favour of advances, as there were 1,493 shares on the gaining side against 1041 shares on the losing side, while 139 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex plunged by 28.92 points or 0.14%, to settle at 20864.97, while the CNX Nifty declined by 2.15 points or 0.03% to settle at 6,202.80.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 20948.91 and 20810.25, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index gained 0.70% and Small cap index was up by 1.04%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up 2.63%, Sun Pharma up 2.10%, Coal India up 1.82%, Gail India up 1.77% and Wipro up 1.67%, on the flip side, Hindalco Inds down 1.56%, Hero MotoCorp down 1.37%, HDFC down 1.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra down 1.23%, and RIL down 1.07%, were the top losers on the index. 

On the BSE Sectoral front, Power up by 1.74%, Capital Goods up by 1.10%, PSU up by 0.73%, IT up by 0.50%, and TECK up by 0.40%, were the top gainers, while Consumer Durables down by 0.87%, Auto down by 0.56%, Oil & Gas down by 0.28%, Realty down by 0.22%, and FMCG down by 0.08%, were top losers on the sectoral front.

Meanwhile, the country’s sugar output dropped by 4.5% to 25.14 million tonnes in 2012-13 marketing year that ended last month as against 26.34 million tonnes of sugar output in the previous marketing year. However, despite the drop, the production was sufficient to meet the local demand, which increased by 3.6% to 22.8 million tonnes in the same period.

Further, data from Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) showed that 2.5% less sugarcane was crushed in the 2012-13 crop season, while the all-India average recovery rate stood at 10.03% compared with 10.25% in the previous year.

Maharashtra, the country's largest sugar producing states, produced 7.99 million tonnes of sugar after crushing 70.1 million tonnes of sugarcane. While, sugar production dipped by 11% than last year, sugar crushing for the season was 98% lower. This dip was mainly on account of lower sugar recovery in 2012-13 at about 11.41%.

However, Uttar Pradesh produced 7.4 million tonnes of sugar and crushed 81.5 million tonnes of sugarcane, which was 7.3% more sugar than last year and 6% more than the sugarcane crushing last year respectively. Better sugar recovery than last year's of 9.07%, helped in giving slightly more sugar production. Notably, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, together account for about 80% of the country's sugar production. Further, sugar production during 2012-13 marketing year stood at 3.46 million tonnes in Karnataka, 1.96 million tonnes in Tamil Nadu and 0.99 million tonnes in Andhra Pradesh.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,220.10 and 6,181.80 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Tata Power Company up by 2.75%, HCL Technologies up by 2.72%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.46%, Axis Bank up by 2.05% and GAIL (India) up by 2.03%. On the other hand, Hindalco Industries down by 1.82%, Ranbaxy Laboratories down by 1.45%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.42%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.42%, and DLF down by 1.20%, were the top losers.

Most of the European markets were trading in green, France’s CAC 40 was up by 0.07%, and, United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 was up by 0.26%, while Germany’s DAX was down by 0.03%.

The Asian markets concluded Tuesday’s trade on a mixed note ahead of important US jobs data. There was also some weakness in Hong Kong-listed Chinese developers, after data showed that new home prices rose on year in September in 69 of 70 cities. Average prices of new homes in 70 Chinese cities in September rose to another fresh high, spurred by price gains in major cities that concern local officials. For the eighth consecutive month, growth in median home prices rose in September from year-ago levels, after a turnaround that began in January. Prices were up in 69 of the 70 cities in September, unchanged from August. The growth in individual income tax and property transaction tax has contributed to a faster rise in China’s tax revenue in the first three quarters of this year despite weak import tariffs, the Ministry of Finance stated.

Taiwan’s export orders in September grew 2 percent year on year, the third monthly rise in succession, on strong European and US demand for smartphones, the island’s authorities stated. Export orders, which are filed to manufacturers one or two months ahead of delivery, are a key sign for the island’s export-reliant economy. The September figure came in at $38.4 billion, following a 0.5 percent rise in July and August.