Benchmarks end slightly lower ahead of Infosys’ Q3 numbers

Reversing all their initial gains, key domestic benchmarks witnessed consolidation on Thursday with both the gauges snapping the session on a flat note with negative bias, as investors remained on sidelines ahead of the Infosys’ third quarter performance which will set the tone of earnings season for the Oct-Dec quarter. However, losses remained capped as some support came in from Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram’s statement that 2013-14 is likely to end with an economic growth of about 5 percent on the back of spurt in investment activities in the latter half of the fiscal. Sentiments also remained aided with foreign institutional investors (FIIs) buying shares worth a net Rs 79.68 crore on January 8, 2014.

Firm opening in European markets too helped the Indian equity markets. CAC, DAX and FTSE all edged higher by around half a percent ahead of policy meetings in the UK and in Europe later in the day. However, disappointing cues from Asian markets took their toll on Indian markets and dragged the frontline gauges in the red. Nikkei ended the session with a cut of one and a half percent as stronger yen weighed on export-oriented stocks.

Back home, sentiments remained dampened on report that domestic passenger car sales declined 4.52% to 1,32,561 units in December, compared with 1,38,835 units sold in the year-ago month. Meanwhile, total sales of commercial vehicles sales were down 25.53% to 46,757 units in December from 62,786 units, while total sale of vehicles across categories registered a decline of 1.21% to 14,31,632 units from 14,49,203 units in December 2012. Additionally, stocks like Gokul Refoils & Solvent, Sanwaria Agro, JVL Agro Industries edged lower in trade on reports of CCEA considering proposal to hike import duty hike on refined edible oil to 10%.

On the flip side, shares of gold finance companies like Muthoot, Manappuram Finance traded jubilantly on the decision of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow finance companies to offer loans of up to 75% of the value of pledged gold as against 60% earlier. Moreover, shares of public sector oil marketing companies viz. BPCL, HPCL and IOC all edged higher as US crude oil futures traded near the lowest level in six weeks after data showed US crude stockpiles increased more than forecast.

The NSE’s 50-share broadly followed index Nifty slipped by six points and managed to hold its psychological 6,150 level, while Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive Index -- Sensex dropped over fifteen points to hold the psychological 20,700 mark.

Meanwhile, the broader markets reeled under selling pressure after several days of outperformance and ended the day’s trade with a cut of over half a percent. The market breadth remained in favour of decliners, as there were 1,164 shares on the gaining side against 1,389 shares on the losing side, while 139 shares remained unchanged.

Finally, the BSE Sensex declined by 16.01 points or 0.08%, to settle at 20713.37, while the CNX Nifty lost 6.25 points or 0.10% to settle at 6,168.35.

The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 20778.13 and 20652.69, respectively. The BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.79%, while the Small cap index lost 0.71%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SSLT up 4.57%, NTPC up 3.20%, ONGC up 2.62%, Coal India up 2.41%, and Dr Reddys Lab up 2.21%, on the flip side L&T down 2.68%, Axis Bank down 2.30%, Hindalco Inds down 2.21%, Mahindra & Mahindra down 1.52%, and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.43%,were the top losers on the index.

On the BSE Sectoral front Metal up by 1.06%, PSU up by 0.82%, Oil & Gas up by 0.76%, IT up by 0.47% and Healthcare up by 0.46%, were the top gainers, while Realty down by 2.31%, Capital Goods down by 2.03%, Bankex down by 0.74%, Auto down by 0.57% and FMCG done by 0.56%, were the top losers on the sectoral front.

Meanwhile, dismissing apprehensions of the Indian diaspora on the state of the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted that there was no need to worry about the future growth of Indian economy as the country was heading towards better times. Manmohan Singh urged people to remain engaged in the future of this country with confidence despite the concerns about the social challenges, better governance and future of the Indian economy. Highlighting the perceptions outside India that the country is losing its growth momentum in the past decade, which is amplified by the political uncertainty on account of coming general election, he clarified that despite a number of weak external and domestic factors, Indian economic fundamentals are strong.

Prime Minister dismissed perceptions that Indian economy was struggling with slowdown in past decade saying that economy has done well over the past decade with averaged healthy growth rate of 7.9 percent per annum. India’s savings and investment rates are still over 30 percent of GDP and business sentiments in India is escalating. Referring to the decade low growth of 5 percent in previous fiscal, Manmohan Singh pointed out that a number of international as well as domestic factors have contributed to low growth in FY13. Prime Minister expects that domestic economy is likely to grow at 5 percent in the current fiscal.

The CNX Nifty touched a high and low of 6,188.05 and 6,148.25 respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were SSLT up by 4.44%, HCL Technologies up by 3.20%, NTPC up by 3.05%, ONGC up by 2.86%, and Coal India up by 2.79%, On the other hand, Jaiprakash Associates down by 4.22%, ACC down by 2.78%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.61%, Ambuja Cements down by 2.35%, and Hindalco Industries down by 2.21%, were the top losers.

The European markets were trading in green, France's CAC 40 was up by 0.34%, Germany's DAX was up by 0.42%, and United Kingdom's FTSE 100 was up by 0.34%.

The Asian markets barring Jakarta Composite concluded Thursday’s trade in red with Japan giving away much of its gains from the previous session, while Chinese inflation data kept Hong Kong sentiment in check. China’s consumer-price inflation slowed in December, while deflation for wholesale prices held steady. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.5% from a year earlier, slowing from a 3% gain in November, the National Bureau of Statistics stated. Prices were 0.3% higher versus the previous month, swinging from a 0.1% drop. Chinese Producer price inflation remained unchanged at an annual rate of -1.4%, from -1.4% in the preceding month. The inflation figures came after some disappointing economic numbers from China earlier in the month that pointed to decelerating activity in both the services and manufacturing sectors.

China’s gross domestic product for 2012 has been revised to 51.947 trillion yuan ($8.58 trillion), 52.8 billion yuan higher than the preliminary reading released last September. The revised GDP growth remains unchanged at 7.7 percent. Malaysian Industrial Production rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.4%, from 1.7% in the preceding month.