Benchmarks continue weak trade in late morning

Benchmarks extended their losses in late -morning trade on concern of US Fed going for a tapering sooner than expected, as more positive economic data from the country were reported on Monday. Investor’s sentiments remained dampened with the report that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the services sector, which contributes over 60 percent to India’s GDP, declined 47.5 percent to $1.19 billion during April-August.

On the global front, most of the Asian equity benchmarks were trading in the red at this point of time with some of the indices were trading lower by over half a percent. The Japanese markets faltered after a positive start as the yen strengthened against the dollar. The monetary base in Japan climbed 45.8 percent on year in October to 186.868 trillion yen.  Back home, traders were selling were in FMCG, Power and Consumer Durables on the BSE. The market breadth on BSE remains negative with advances to declines in the ratio of 715:932. BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were comfortably trading near their psychological 21,000 and 6,250 levels respectively.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21023.57, down by 215.79 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 21158.56 and 21005.66. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index. The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.19% and Small cap index lost 0.06%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were, FMCG down by 1.94%, Power down by 1.61%, Consumer Durables down by 1.30%, Capital Goods down by 1.22% and Teck down by 1.16% and while there were no gainers on the sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.16%, HDFC up by 0.65%, Cipla up by 0.61%, RIL up by 0.51%, and Coal India up by 0.46%. On the flip side, ITC was down by 2.74%, SSLT was down by 2.17%,  BHEL was down by 2.14%, TCS was down by 2.13% and SBI was down by 2.09% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, In a move to enhance the country’s exports, the government has explored the possibility of having more free trade agreements (FTAs) with various countries. The meeting of Trade and Economic Relations Committee, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has reviewed progress of various free trade agreements (FTAs) under negotiations. At present, India is negotiating several FTAs with various countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand besides the European Union.

Export is the key determinants of economic growth as the rising exports increases the country’s GDP, besides strengthens the country’s external situation. Recently, the government has taken a slew of initiatives that included announcing sops for exports orientated Special Economic Zones (SEZs), encouraging exporters to tap newer markets and extension of the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme to all sectors in order to boost shipments.

Meanwhile, the government's efforts to raise exports have started yielding as exports increased by 11.15% for the third consecutive month to $27.68 billion for the month of September from $24.90 recorded during the same month in 2012. Further, improving country’s exports has also raised hopes for a significant reduction in the country's gaping current account deficit. On cumulative basis, value of exports increased by 5.14% to $152.10 billion during April-September, 2013 as against $144.67 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,258.55 down by 58.80 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 6,293.75 and 6,247.55. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were NMDC up by 2.06%, Tata Motors up by 1.53%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.32% , Cipla up by 0.72% and  Reliance Industries up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.56%,  ITC down by 2.75%, Ranbaxy down by 2.60%, JP Associates  down by 2.57%, and Bank Baroda down by 2.18% were the major losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Shanghai Composite was down by 8.95 points or 0.42% to 2,140.69, Hang Seng slumped by 171.68 points or 0.74% to 23,017.94, KLSE Composite was down by 2.94 points or 0.16% to 1,807.47, Nikkei 225 shed 4.19 points or 0.03% to 14,197.38, Seoul Composite was down by 10.10 points or 0.50% to 2,015.16 and Taiwan Weighted lost 54.76 points or 0.66% to 8,299.38.

On the other hand, Straits Times was the lone gainer in the Asian pack, up by 7.85 points or 0.25% to 3,211.75.