Markets continue to trade in red in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in afternoon session amid selling witnessed in frontline blue-ship stocks such as ICICI bank, L&T and Hindalco Inds. Investors’ sentiments got dampened as foreign direct investment (FDI) in India declined by about 38 percent on y-o-y basis to $2.91 billion in September as compared to $4.47 billion in the same month of previous year. Sectors like capital goods, FMCG and banking stocks have witnessed selling. Meanwhile, market losses remained capped amid buying witnessed in metal, consumer durable and power stocks. Shares of power companies such as Adani Power, Tata Power and Reliance Power were trading higher by up to 8% on BSE. Investors’ sentiments got some support as HSBC Business Activity Index posted 47.2 in November compared to 47.1 in October. On sector specific movement, SSLT, Tata Power and Bharti Airtel were trading up by nearly 1.30%, while, ICICI bank, Hindalco and L&T were trading down by over 1.00% on BSE. Among other stocks, Eveready Industries India is trading higher by nearly 5% on back of heavy volumes on the bourses as it posted a profit of Rs 7.83 crore for H1FY14, on the back of strong operational performance. Further, shares of small-sized non-durable household product-makers rallied over 33% in past month after reporting robust net profit growth for the quarter ended September 2013.

On global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Nikkei 225 down by 1.99% and Straits Times down by 0.38%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading down their psychological 6,200 and 21,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,136 stocks traded, 1,116 stocks advanced, while 864 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,818.63 down by 36.29 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 20,854.57 and 20,789.44. There were 12 stocks advancing against only 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.24%, while Small cap index up by 0.60%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.79%, Power up by 0.67%, Consumer Durables up by 0.62%, Teck up by 0.46% and IT up by 0.35%. While, Capital Goods down by 1.13%, Bankex down by 0.51%, FMCG down by 0.40% and Healthcare down by 0.33% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up by 2.59%, Tata Power up by 2.25%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.32%, Jindal Steel up by 1.23% and Wipro up by 0.87%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.91%, L&T down by 1.79%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.05, Sun Pharma down by 0.89% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.85%.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector activity after showing a good jump in October from a four-and-a-half year low, has improved a bit more in the month of November. The HSBC Business Activity Index posted 47.2 in November compared to 47.1 in October. Though, there was improvement for the second consecutive month but the numbers remained sub-50.0 level for the fifth time in as many months and indicated a solid rate of output contraction across the Indian service economy.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Composite Output Index too remained below the 50.0 no-change mark for the fifth month running in November. However, up from 47.5 in October to 48.5, as manufacturing production rose in the latest month. The decline in service sector activity pointed to the weakest rate of contraction in this sequence.

The latest fall in the Indian Services sector was triggered by the fifth consecutive monthly drop in new work. Five of the six broad sectors covered by the survey recorded lower business activity, the exception being Post & Telecommunication, while for the third successive month; the sharpest drop was noted at Hotels & Restaurants.

The November data further indicated that the outstanding business in the Indian private sector rose for the first time in four months. On the same time there was moderate drop in new orders placed at private sector companies. Average purchase costs at Indian services firms rose further in November, although the weakest in four months, the overall rate of input price inflation remained robust. Going forward the Indian services companies optimism had hit a a three-month high and they anticipate higher business activity in the coming year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,192.50 down by 9.35 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 6,201.95 and 6,180.05. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were JP Associates up by 2.96%, SSLT up by 2.59%, Tata Power up by 2.44%, Jindal Steel up by 1.43% and Power Grid up by 1.23%. On the flip side, LT down by 1.77%, ICICI Bank down by 1.76%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.01%, Hidustan Unilever down by 0.89% and Sun Pharma down by 0.73% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 down by 1.99%, Straits Times down by 0.38%, Hang Seng down by 0.57% and Seoul Composite down by 0.94%. While, Jakarta Composite up by 0.88%, Taiwan Weighted up by 0.30%, KLSE Composite up by 0.08% and Shanghai Composite up by 1.53%.