Benchmarks continue weak trade in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in afternoon session on account of weak global cues and selling witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks such as Tata motors, Wipro and Dr Reddy’s Lab. Investors’ sentiments remained dented as Indian exports increased 5.86 per cent to $24.6 billion in November, the slowest pace in five months owing to the decline of shipments of petroleum goods and rough diamonds. Further, investors also opted to remain on sidelines ahead of the curicial macro-economic data such as Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and CPI inflation. On stock specific, auto was the top losing index on BSE down by nearly 0.96% followed by bankex and metal stocks both down by over 0.70%. On stock specific movement, Tata motors, Wipro and Dr Reddy’s Lab were trading down by over 1.30%, while, Tata Motors, BHEL and HDFC were trading up by over 0.55 % on BSE. Among other stocks, Shares of SKS Microfinance were up over 4% after the company announced that it has completed a second securitisation deal worth Rs 80.81 crore for the current fiscal. Shares in search service provider Just Dial gained 2.2% after index compiler FTSE says it will include the stock in its FTSE all cap index, effective from the start of trading on December 23. Cadila Healthcare is trading higher by 2.5% after the pharmaceuticals company said it has settled a patent litigation with US-based Warner Chilcott Company LLC.

On global front, Asian markets were trading in red with Seoul Composite down by 0.51%, Hang Seng down by 0.23%, Straits Times down by 0.20% on heightened expectations the Federal Reserve may act sooner than later to unwind its stimulus after a provisional budget deal in Washington eased some of the fiscal drag on the US economy. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading down their psychological 6,300 and 21,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,054 stocks traded, 896 stocks advanced, while 1,038 stocks declined on the BSE.  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 21,031.23 down by 140.18 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 21,103.80 and 21,004.89. There were only 6 stocks advancing against only 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index up by 0.10%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.09% and Realty up by 0.28%. While, Auto down by 0.96%, Bankex down by 0.87%, Metal down by 0.76%, Tech down by 0.59% and Consumer Goods down by 0.38%  were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Power up by 5.59%, BHEL up by 0.83%, HDFC up by 0.56%, Gail India up by 0.49% and NTPC up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.20%, Wipro down by 1.39%, Dr Reddy’s Lab down by 1.38%, Tata Motors down by 1.34% and TCS down by 1.34%. Meanwhile, India Inc has expressed hope that country’s exports target of $325 billion in the current fiscal would be met despite slowing growth of overseas shipments to a five-month low in November. Indian exports increased by 5.86 percent to $24.6 billion in November owing to the declined shipments of petroleum goods and rough diamonds.

Ficci President Naina Lal Kidwai underscored that continued rise in exports for the fifth month in a row is significant and the first eight months of this fiscal have witnessed a nearly 23 percent decline in the cumulative trade deficit. During April-November’ 2013, exports grew 6.27 percent to $204 billion. Rising exports will considerably ease the pressure on the current account deficit and make the rupee more stable. India’s imports fell the most in four years, by 16.37% from a year earlier to $33.8 billion in November, leaving narrower trade deficit of $9.22 billion as against $17.2 billion deficit in November 2012.

Chairman of engineering exporters body EEPC Anupam Shah highlighted that significant fall in trade deficit is a noteworthy development, which is largely a result of a steep import compression rather than a smart rise in exports. Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat mentioned that evolving trend strongly indicates that India's trade balance in 2013-14 would improve and falling imports are a welcoming sign at this juncture. Meanwhile, decline in the imports of capital goods owing to less investment activity and rising imports of consumer goods does not augur well for the domestic economy.

Chairman of the CII Committee on Exports and Imports Sanjay Budhia commented that India will achieve exports target in current fiscal. Meanwhile, he also expressed the need for the government to come out with a scheme to expand new products basket and duty drawback rates besides taking a holistic view and make special economic zones more viable.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,266.70 down by 41.20 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 6,286.85 and 6,254.50. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Tata Power up by 5.76%, Ranbaxy up by 1.30%, BHEL up by 0.86%, GAIL up by 0.61% and HDFC up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 2.44%, Tata Motors down by 2.21%, ACC down by 1.76%, Ultra tech down by 1.60% and Wipro down by 1.52% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Seoul Composite down by 0.51%, Hang Seng down by 0.23%, Straits Times down by 0.20%, Nikkei 225 down by 1.10%,Taiwan Weighted down by 0.86%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.11%, and KLSE Composite down by 0.31%.  While, Shanghai Composite up by 0.38%