Benchmarks trim losses; Nifty gyrates around 6300 mark

Indian equities trimmed losses but continued its weak trade in the late afternoon session on account of selling in front line counters. The sentiment were on pessimistic mood despite Asian Development Bank (ADB) kept its growth forecast for India at 4.7% for this year, and sees the country growing at 5.7% in 2014. Standard & Poor’s report that India’s sovereign rating may come under pressure if general elections due by May next year end up with a hung parliament or with a government unable to push through reforms also added some pressure to the market. Investors were cautious from taking any position ahead of crucial macro-economic data, viz, October IIP, November CPI data, scheduled to be released tomorrow. Traders were seen piling positions in FMCG stocks, while selling was witnessed in Oil & Gas, Capital Goods and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, hectic activity was witnessed in Coal India after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of Rs 1,773 crore on the company, the first major penalty on a state-owned company by the fair trade watchdog, for abusing its dominant position in fuel supplies.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading in red, while the European markets were trading on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below their psychological 6,350 and 21,200 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 977:1307 while 155 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21150.09 down by 105.17 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 21200.51 and 21088.26. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap and Small cap indices were down by 0.14% and 0.15% respectively. 

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.55%, While, Oil & Gas down by 1.20%, Capital Goods down by 1.20%, PSU down by 1.08%, Metal down by 0.79% and Auto down by 0.73% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.83%,ITC up by 0.98%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.77%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.64% and Coal India up 0.60%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.06%, ONGC down by 2.84%, BHEL down by 2.35%, Gail India down by 2.14% and SBI down by 2.12%.

Meanwhile, in a positive news, India’s imports fell the most in four years, by 16.37% annually to $33.8 billion in November, leaving narrower trade deficit of $9.22 billion as against $17.2 billion deficit in November 2012, as per the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Cumulatively, for the April-November period, the trade balance recorded a deficit of $99.9 billion. While, imports cumulatively declined by just 5.39% at $303.89 billion during this period.

Country’s exports grew by 5.86% year-on-year in November to $24.6 billion and cumulatively rose by 6.27% to $203.98 billion in the year through November.

The sharp slide in country’s import was mainly on account of decline in gold and silver imports sharply to $ 1 billion in November from $ 5.4 billion a year ago. Additionally, Oil imports during November, 2013 were valued at $12.96 billion, which was 1.1% lower than oil imports valued at $13.10 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Gold imports have been hit this year after the country took slew of measures to curb imports of the yellow metal, including imposing a record 10% import duty and requiring that 20% of imports be re-exported.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,302.85, down by 30.00 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 6,313.25 and 6,282.15. There were 15 stocks advancing against 34 declining while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were NTPC up by 2.79%, HCL Tech up by 2.14%, Ranbaxy up by 1.29%, ITC up by 0.99% and Maruti up 0.70%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 3.15%, Tata Motors down by 3.14%, ONGC down by 2.97%, BHEL down by 2.33% and IndusInd Bank down by 2.16% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Seoul Composite down by 0.78%, Hang Seng down by 1.71%, Straits Times down by 0.65%, Nikkei 225 down by 0.62%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.11%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.59%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.49% and KLSE Composite down by 0.17%. 

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC 40 was up 0.43%, Germany’s DAX added 0.03% and UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.13%.