Markets trade lower tracking weak global cues

Pressurized by weak global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a negative start and are trading lower by around quarter of a percent. Overnight, the US markets made a negative close, as US Fed cut monthly purchases of Treasuries to $55 billion and indices in the region were concerned about the Fed statement that the time between the end of bond-buying and rate increases could be on the order of "six months". Moreover, most of the Asian equity indices too were trading in the red at this point of time, dampening investors’ confidence.

Back home, the depreciating Indian rupee too dampened investors’ sentiments. Indian rupee has made a weak start on Thursday morning, reacting to the hawkish stance of the US Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen signaling Fed may raise US interest rates from the middle of next year. However, gains remained capped as some support came in from software and technology counters which gained around a percentage point with the industry body Nasscom admitting that the domestic story has not been good in the country, has said that though US market is looking up, the industry should open up new fronts such as China, Japan, South Korea and Africa.

On the sectoral front, capital goods, consumer durables, software and technology witnessed the maximum gain in trade, while capital goods, banking and realty remained the top losers on the BSE sectoral space. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks, while the market breadth on the BSE was positive; there were 829 shares on the gaining side against 676 shares on the losing side while 95 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex opened at 21797.61; about 35 points lower compared to its previous closing of 21832.86, and touched a high and a low of 21812.46 and 21746.42 respectively. The index is currently trading at 21799.27, down by 33.59 points or 0.15%. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 declines on the index.

The overall market breadth has made a strong start with 51.81% stocks advancing against 42.25% declines. The broader indices, however, were outperforming benchmarks; the BSE Mid cap index up was by 0.24% and Small cap gained 0.34%. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were, Consumer Durables up by 1.69%, IT up by 0.86%, TECK up by 0.85% and Healthcare up by 0.68%, while Capital Goods down by 0.78%, Bankex down by 0.75%, Realty down by 0.54%, Power down by 0.45% and Metal down by 0.33% were the top losers on the sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.47%, Sun Pharma up by 1.44%, HUL up by 1.31%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.15% and TCS up by 0.96%. On the flip side, BHEL was down by 2.06%, Axis Bank was down by 1.58%, Coal India was down by 1.27%, GAIL was down by 1.06% and L&T was down by 0.99% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, concerned over the increasing legal expenses as many of its orders getting challenged in tribunal and courts, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) will soon consider a proposal to recover legal expenses incurred in such litigations from penalties imposed by it on defaulters before crediting the amount to the government's coffers. Over the past three financial years, capital markets regulator has incurred average litigation expenditure in the range of Rs 4-5 crore per annum, however, such expenses are expected to be much higher in the current fiscal year.

Further, SEBI may also consider charging 'processing fees' for various service requests from market intermediaries, companies and stock exchanges as most of the services are being provided free by SEBI in spite of bearing significant cost of such matters. However, fees are not proposed on investor complaints, in accordance with the processing time, cost and procedures involved. 

The proposal, which is based on recommendations made by a Committee on Rationalisation of Financial Resources (CRFR) is likely to be considered by SEBI board later this week. The proposal has been made to enhance SEBI's financial resources to help it meet expenses for its various regulatory and investor-centric activities.

The CNX Nifty opened at 6,508.35; about 16 point lower as compared to its previous closing of 6,524.05, and has touched a high and a low of 6,516.70 and 6,497.90 respectively. The index is currently trading at 6,509.45, down by 14.60 points or 0.22%. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 declines on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Wipro up by 1.51%, Sun Pharma up by 1.21%, HUL up by 1.12%, Asian Paints up by 1.03% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.92%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.72%, BHEL down by 2.34%, Ambuja Cement down by 1.72%, Axis Bank down by 1.65% and DLF down by 1.47% were the top losers on the index.

Most of the Asian equity indices were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 243.73 points or 1.13% to 21,324.96, Jakarta Composite slipped by 78.81 points or 1.63% to 4,742.65, KLSE Composite decreased 4.11 points or 0.23% to 1,813.33, Nikkei 225 tumbled 242.73 points or 1.68% to 14,219.79, Straits Times dropped by 11.38 points or 0.37% to 3,069.37, KOSPI Composite dipped 17.49 points or 0.90% to 1,920.19 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 105.85 points or 1.22% to 8,583.61.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 7.12 points or 0.35% to 2,028.85.