Benchmark trim losses; Nifty below 6200 mark

Indian equities pared losses but continued to trade in red in the late afternoon session on account of value buying at lower levels in frontline counters. The street took note of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data which pegged India's FY-14 growth at 3.4%, almost same as the 3.3% growth recorded last year. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty, Metal and Power stocks while selling was witnessed in Health Care, Bankex and Auto sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Pfizer and Wyeth both were seen trading in green after announcing a board meeting on November 23, 2013 to consider a scheme of amalgamation. Sugar companies stocks were trading firm on hopes that a government committee headed by Farm Minister Sharad Pawar will meet today to decide financial assistance for struggling sugar mills as well as an increase in import duties on raw sugar to halt cheaper imports and strengthen domestic prices.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading in red barring Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng while the European markets were trading on mixed note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,200 and 20,900 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1310:1028 while 125 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20848.15, down by 42.67 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 20,890.85 and 20,764.82. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 declining on the index.

The broader indices continued to trade with vigor; with BSE Mid cap index was trading higher by 0.62% and Small cap index holding up by 0.81%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.90%, Metal up by 1.14%, Power up by 1.05%, PSU up by 0.76% and Oil & Gas up by 0.44%. While, Health Care down by 0.66%, Bankex down by 0.61%, Auto down by 0.48%, TECK down by 0.45% and Consumer Durables down by 0.38% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.28%, SSLT up by 2.16%, Tata Power up by 1.84%, BHEL up by 1.80% and ONGC up by 1.48%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank was down by 1.70%, Cipla down by 1.36%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.33%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.29% and Sun Pharma down by 1.14% were the major losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has approved 20 proposals worth Rs 916 crore including Singapore Airlines proposal of Rs 303.18 crore to form a partnership with Tata Sons to start a full service airline.

Among other major proposals, FIPB cleared Rs 179.43-crore proposal of Religare Enterprises to issue warrants to carry out the business of Investment Advisory Services and Financial Consultancy, JM Financial proposal of Rs 22.19 crore to issue warrants to set up a core investment company and Rs 130 crore Perrigo API India's proposal to increase the foreign equity participation from 85 percent to 100 percent by way of issue of fresh equity shares and transfer of equity shares in a pharma sector company. Meanwhile, FIPB has referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) the Rs 1,400 crore proposal of Federal Bank to increase the foreign equity to 74 percent and for post facto approval for exceeding the foreign equity cap of 49 percent by 7.16 percent.

FDI is considered crucial for economic development of a country and to attract maximum FDI into the country, the government has been liberalizing the foreign investment policy. The government has relaxed FDI norms in around 12 sectors which include telecom, tea, pension and petroleum and natural gas. Now, it has also started exercise in allowing FDI in railways sector besides liberalising FDI norms for construction and housing sector. Further, a rise in FDI will help support the rupee, which depreciated over 15 percent against US dollar in 2013. Despite the government's various efforts to increase foreign investment, FDI during the April-August period of 2013-14 has grown by a marginal 4 percent to $8.46 billion, from $8.16 billion in the first five months of 2012-13, reflecting the need to take more measures to improve the business environment in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,195.45, down by 7.90 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 6,204.25 and 6,163.50. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were DLF up by 3.78%, Coal India up by 2.39%, SSLT up by 2.36%, IDFC up by 2.25% and NMDC up by 1.83%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.87%, BPCL down by 1.53%, Cipla down by 1.46%, Sun Pharma down by 1.25%, and Bajaj Auto down by 1.20% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mostly in red barring Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng up by 0.62% and 0.18% respectively. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.67%, Seoul Composite down by 0.71%, KLSE Composite down by 0.65%, Straits Times down by 0.25%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.45% and Nikkei 225 down by 0.33%.

The European markets were trading on a mixed note; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.09%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.01% and UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 0.18%.