Sensex snaps 2-day winning streak ahead of F&O expiry

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty snapped a two-day winning streak on Wednesday on the back of unwinding of long positions ahead of the derivatives expiry, coupled with profit bookings. Sensex closed 119.45 points down at 25960.03, while Nifty settled 32.70 points down at 7,896.25.

Depreciation in Indian rupee too dampened sentiments. The rupee was trading lower by 4 paise to 66.43 against the dollar at the time of equity markets closing at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased month-end demand for the US currency from importers.

In the 50-share index, ZEEL, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Tata Power, Tech Mahindra gained between 0.95 per cent and 2.93 per cent. On the other hand, Punjab National Bank, HCL Technologies, BPCL, Infosys, TCS slid between 1.38 per cent and 2.01 per cent.

Nifty 50 – Top Gainers/ Losers

Sector-wise, BSE metal index was in the pink of health as it rose 0.28 per cent, followed by power (0.27 per cent), FMCG (0.12 per cent) and consumer durables (0.02 per cent). The BSE IT index fell 1.21 per cent on Wednesday.

Vinod Nair, head, fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said, “Investors are cautious ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday and they are not actively participating in this market as the year comes to an end. Besides, the market tested its key support level of 7,900 in the trade on Wednesday due to profit booking.”

The near month December 2015 derivatives contracts will expire on Thursday i.e. December 31, 2015.

Liquor stocks like United Breweries, United Spirits, Tilaknagar Industries continue to end lower for second day in a row after the Supreme Court of India upheld the Kerala liquor ban policy.

However, companies related to insurance business viz. Aditya Birla Nuvo and Bajaj Finserv edged higher, as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has said that the existing micro insurance products will continue to be on offer till March 31, 2016. Earlier, it was mandated that all existing micro insurance products that are not in compliance to the Irdai regulations 2015 shall be withdrawn with effect from January 1, 2016.

Government on Wednesday approved an Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS) in place of the existing Revised Restructured TUFS for technology upgradation of the textiles industry, a move expected to boost job creation and exports in the sector. The amended scheme would give a boost to Make in India
initiatives in the sector and is expected to attract investment to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore and create over 30 lakh jobs. Shares of textile companies such as Lakshmi Machine Works and Siyaram Silk Mills gained 7.86 per cent and 2.09 per cent.

Asian equity markets ended mixed on Wednesday. Trading volumes were light across the region, despite an overnight rally in Brent crude oil prices driving up US stocks. Japanese stocks ended up on last trading day of 2015, as the dollar steadied at mid-120 yen range on optimism over the world’s largest economy. Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday on 31 December. China stocks reversed initial losses to end slightly higher, helped by a late rally in banking shares. However, activity was thin as traders awaited manufacturing activity surveys for December, which are expected to show the economy remains sluggish. Hong Kong stocks fell in thin trading, undermined by selling in energy and financial shares, amid lingering worries about China’s economy.

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Markets through the day

3.30 pm: Sensex and Nifty settled below their psychological levels of 26,000 and 7,900 as investors started taking profits off the table in the late hours of the session. Sensex closed 119.45 points down at 25960.03, while Nifty settled 32.70 points down at 7,896.25.

Gaurav Jain, director, Hem Securities, said “Indices after hovering around positive zone through the major part of the day slips in last hour of trading on the back of weak European markets. Year-end holiday mood slowed down activity on Dalal Street. However, indices remain range bound on account of the penultimate day of December F&O Series and volatility in global commodity prices.”

3.02 pm: Sensex fell 114.94 points to 25,964.54. IFCI was trading 1.86 per cent up at Rs 27.40. IFCI sells partial stake in National Stock Exchange (NSE) of about 0.17 per cent, worth Rs 29.63 crore. Nifty was down 33.45 points at 7,895.

2.56 pm: Jindal Steel shares surged over 4 per cent in the afternoon trade. Sensex was down 79 points at 26,000. Nifty was down 17.65 points at 7,909.

2.42 pm: Shares in Housing Development Finance Corp were up 0.12 per cent after Standard Life received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to increase its stake in HDFC Life Insurance to 35 per cent from 26 per cent.

At 52-week high: Allcargo Logistics, Century Extrusions, Bajaj Finance, Goodricke Group and Jamna Auto Industries hit their fresh 52-week highs in today’s trade.

2.38 pm: Shares of Lakshmi Machine Works were trading around 10 per cent up at Rs 3,868. Sensex was down 39 points at 26,040.

2.27 pm: Meanwhile, department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary Amitabh Kant has said that Foreign Direct Investment in the last 17 months into India has surged by 35 percent, even as across the world it has  fallen by 16 percent. FDI has come into manufacturing, consumer goods, logistics and food processing sectors.

1.58 pm: Sensex was down 34 points at 26,045. Zeel, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Tech Mahindra, Tata power and Tata Steel were up over 1 per cent.

1.24 pm: Telecom and industrial counters saw some intermittent buying. Caution and short-covering ahead of the December monthly derivatives expiry on Thursday had a bearing on mood. Sensex was down 1.93 points at 26,077.

12.51 pm: Steel Strips Wheels shares gained nearly 4 per cent after the company announced that it has commissioned a state of the art wider hot rolled coils slitting line covering all the grades of Mild Steel and High Tensile Steel with a maximum width of 1650 mm and thickness in the range of 2mm to 8 mm. This facility has come up in its Dappar plant where it consumes the most steel. Sensex was almost flat at 26,079.

12.23 pm: Dr Reddy’s shares were trading 1.86 per cent up at Rs 3160.05 after the company announced the re-launch of its Esomeprazole Magnesium delayed-release capsules. Sensex was trading 0.23 points up at 26,079.71. Nifty was trading 2.50 points up at 7,931.45.

11.55 am: After making a flat but positive opening, benchmarks have pared their initial gains and slipped into negative territory, tracking muted momentum in other Asian markets. Further, investors turned cautious ahead of F&O expiry for the month of December. Sensex was down 12.08 points at 26,067. Nifty was down 1 point at 7,927.

11.25 am: Oil Bidco (Mauritius) Limited, promoter of Essar Oil Ltd (EOL), announced the successful completion of EOL’s delisting offer process, which has emerged as the largest privatisation bid in the history of corporate India, valuing EOL at Rs 38,000 crore (USD 5.75 bn) of market capitalisation.

Of the 14.25 crore shares held by public shareholders, the promoters have acquired 10.1 crore shares made to shareholders, as against the requirement of 9.26 crore shares for delisting. The shareholders tendered their shares between 15th December 2015 and 21st December 2015, through the reverse book building window made available to them under the delisting regulations. While the floor price for the delisting was set at Rs 146.05 per share, Oil Bidco (Mauritius) Limited has agreed to pay Rs 262.80 per share—which is a premium of 80 per cent. The Rs 3,745 crore that will be paid to shareholders makes this the largest payout to privatise a publicly listed company in India.

10.58 am: Tata Motors, one of India’s largest manufacturers of automobile and commercial vehicles, is reportedly planning to assemble Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) kits in India. Earlier this year, home-grown automaker the company launched the new generation Nano in India, christened GenX Nano. In addition to various styling and feature offerings, the car came with an AMT unit. The growing demand and increased waiting period for the AMT variant has led the company to look into assembling the AMT unit locally. Another reason that could be attributed is the introduction of AMT to the much-anticipated Tata Zica hatchback. Shares of Tata Motors were trading 0.40 per cent up at Rs 392.40.

10.22 am: Bosch was trading 0.20 per cent down at Rs 18,525. In order to adjust production to meet the demand for products and to avoid unnecessary buildup of inventory, Bosch has proposed to suspend all manufacturing operations at the company’s Bangalore Plant and Bidadi Plant on December 30 and December 31. There is no financial impact on account of the proposed suspension of operations.

10.10 am: Shares of United Spirits fell over 2 per cent in the early trade on Wednesday after the Diageo-owned company said it is seeking approval from its shareholders to report sick to BIFR as its accumulated losses as on March 31, touched 86 per cent of peak net worth during the past four fiscal years.

9.47 am: Shares of Jindal Poly Investment and Finance were trading 16.28 per cent up at Rs 118.95 in the early trade. Sensex was marginally up 13 points at 26,092.

9.37 am: Axis Bank has allotted senior notes aggregating to $9 million under the MTN Programme on December 29, 2015, through its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch. Shares of Axis Bank were trading 0.17 per cent up at Rs 458.50.

BSE SENSEX HEATMAP @ 9.35 am

9.34 am: The rupee weakened by another 4 paise to 66.44 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased month-end
demand for the US currency from importers.

9.28 am: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has acquired 74 per cent stake in Augere Wireless, which holds 4G spectrum in Madhya Pradesh, but did not disclose financial details of the deal. Shares of Bharti Airtel were trading 0.67 per cent up at Rs 336.70.

9.24 am: In the 30-share index, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Tata Motors were up between 0.70 per cent and 1.35 per cent. On the other hand, ICICI Bank, RIL, Hero MotoCorp, Lupin and TCS were down between 0.15 per cent and 0.50 per cent. The benchmark Sensex was up 40 points at 26,119.85.

9.15 am: The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened 44.39 points and 9.65 points up at 26,123.87 and 7,938.60. Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on Amtek Auto for failing to redress investors’ grievances. Shares of Amtek were trading 0.20 per cent up at Rs 51.25 in the opening trade.

8.42 am: The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are likely to open on a flat note with positive bias on Wednesday tracking SGX Nifty and Asian markets. However choppiness will continue on the penultimate session of the F&O series expiry.

Also, traders will be bit cautious with World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu’s statement that the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7 to 7.5 per cent in 2016. Until October, the World Bank retained India’s growth forecast at 7.5 per cent for 2015-16 and expected it to be 7.8 per cent in 2016-17 and 7.9 per cent in 2017-18.

For a list of stocks that could see some market action today click here

At 8.24 am (IST), SGX Nifty was up 3 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 7,941.

Asian shares glided higher in early trading on Wednesday. On Wall Street, major US indices gained more than 1 per cent. All 10 major S&P sectors ended with gains, led by a 1.34 per cent rise in the technology sector, which lifted the S&P 500 to a modest increase for the year.

US crude and Brent jumped 3 per cent overnight, taking back the ground lost in the previous session as colder weather forecasts raised expectations of more demand.

The benchmark Sensex on Tuesday gained over 45 points to close at 26,079.48 in a trade marked by a series of ups and downs, with auto and banking stocks driving the upside amid a positive global trend.

The 50-share NSE Nifty closed at 7,928.95, up 3.80 points, or 0.05 per cent. Intra-day, it hovered between 7,942.15 and 7,902.75.

According to the data released by the NSE, the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 238.20 crore in index futures and options segments, as per Tuesday’s data, December 29, 2015.

FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 698.81 crore and they sold index options worth Rs 460.61 crore. In the stock segment, FIIs were net buyers of stock futures worth Rs 3.14 crore, while they sold stock options worth Rs 57.22 crore.

Shares of HDFC Bank and DLF will remain in focus on Wednesday. HDFC Bank has reduced base rate or the minimum lending rate by 0.05 per cent to 9.30 per cent.

Realty major DLF on Tuesday said DLF Urban Pvt Ltd and DLF Midtown Pvt Ltd ceased to be its subsidiaries following the Rs 1,992-crore investment by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC in the two upcomimg projects in the national capital.

(With agency inputs)