Nifty touches 1-month low, Sensex fall continues

Nifty opened above 8100 but was unable to sustain the same and lost momentum towards the end of trading hours. Sensex also closed in red and was down 0.25%.

For Nifty, 8150 remains the important immediate resistance for the index, sustaining above which buying might have been seen, however, as the market reached the closing hours it lost the resistance and touched a 1-month low.

Nifty sectoral indices ended on a mixed note. Nifty Realty gained over 1% while Nifty FMCG dipped over 1%. While, Nifty Metal index ended on a positive note up 0.5%. The Nifty Metal index rose for the first time in four sessions led by gains in shares of Welspun Corp, Hindalco Industries and Hindustan Zinc. This positive trend was supported by a rise in rupee against the dollar.

The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 66 points at 26242. The benchmark indices opened at 26368, touched an intra-day high of 26396 and low of 26213.

The NSE Nifty was down 21 points and closed at 8,061. It opened at 8,105 points, hitting a high of 8,112 and low of 8,053.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was up 0.84% at 14.66. The BSE Midcap closed at 11984 and Smallcap indices closed at 11950. BSE Midcap closed marginally low while BSE Smallcap closed marginally high.

Out of 1886 stocks traded on the NSE, 886 declined and 697 advanced today.

A total of 10 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, whereas 21 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

At the close of day, Ultratech Cement, Lupin, NTPC, Maruti, IndusInd Bank, Hindalco, ONGC, Bank of Baroda, Eicher Motors, PowerGrid were the top gainers while Infratel, Sun Pharma, ITC, Idea, Ambuja Cement, Zee, HCL Tech, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank, Aurobindo Pharma were among the losers on NSE.

The Indian Rupee was trading at 67.87 per dollar. Gold was trading at Rs 27,097 per 10 gms and silver was trading at Rs 39,500 per kg.

Nifty hovers above 8000, Hindalco up

Nifty opens above 8100 but was unable to sustain above the same. 8150 remains the important immediate resistance for the index, sustaining above which buying may be seen.

Nifty Bank nears its important support of 200-DMA placed  at 18000 levels. Past few weeks range remains at 18000-18750. Bounce from this low is not ruled out as per technical analysts, however, if Nifty bank sustains below 18000, it would lead to breakdown, and may accentuate selling pressure.

At 12:07 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 26356 up 49 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,096 up 13 points. A total of 8 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while 16 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Out of 1884 stocks traded on the NSE, 641 declined, 880 advanced and 363 remained unchanged today.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.29% at 12039, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.39% at 11993.

Some buying activities is observed in Auto, Metal, Bank, Oil & Gas, Pharma sectors while other sectors are witnessing marginal movement. FMCG, Information Technology, Telecommunications, Consumer Durables are showing weakness on BSE.

Hindalco, Bosch, M&M, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, HDFC, Ultratech Cement, Coal India, ACC are among the gainers, whereas Infratel, TCS, Sun Pharma, Zee, GAIL, ITC, Tata Motors, L&T, Ambuja Cement, IndusInd Bank are losing sheen on NSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 1.68% at 14.29.

Buzzing Stocks:

IRB Infra unit gets arbitral amount of Rs 20.55 crore from NHAI.

Sun Pharma completes 85.1%  acquisition of Russia's JSC Biosintez.

Sun Pharma said one of its subsidiaries has voluntarily requested the US health regulator to withdraw approval for 28 abbreviated new drug applications belonging to Ranbaxy Laboratories.

Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar Ltd plans to sell its co-generation power business to its group company Lalitpur Power Generation Company Ltd (LPGCL) for about Rs18 billion.

Jyoti Structures wins $15 mn order from South Africa's ESKOM.

Welspun Enterprises Ltd said its board of directors will meet later this week to consider buyback of equity shares.

Seamec in pact for charter hire agreement with National Petroleum Construction Co.

Oriental Carbon: Commercial prodn of 1st phase at Mundra SEZ ahead of schedule.

Future Enterprises (FEL) will be selling 16% stake in Future Lifestyle for Rs 3.80 billion, a notice to the stock exchanges. FEL owns the physical assets or the store formats and infrastructure assets in the stores of Future Retail and Bharti retail.

NIIT Tech in settlement agreement with Govt firm for contract that was previously on hold.

8K Miles Software Services has announced the acquisition of Cornerstone Advisors Group LLC for $

10.25 million. The acquisition, through its US-subsidiary, is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to conclude in the quarter ending March 31, 2017.

Tridevi Capital Partners to invest USD20mn in Prabha Energy Private Limited, a subsidiary of Deep Industries Limited. The subsidiary valuation is estimated to be $ 50 million.

Jubilant Life Sciences, a global leader in the pyridine, picolines and nutrition industry, announced a price increase of up to 15% on select products.

Cognizant Technology Solutions has acquired the technology and business process services unit of Frontica Business Solutions AS, helping it gain access to capabilities in the oil and gas sector.

The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has issued Form 483 observations against Unit I of Aurobindo Pharma Limited in Hyderabad.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has tied up with Hughes Communications India to revamp and upgrade its existing satellite network across India.

Vedanta Resources has been ordered by London High Court to pay over $ 100 million to a Zambian investment company related to a 2013 copper price agreement.

Indices to open flat to positive

Asian indices opened in the green with the Japanese index "Nikkei" gaining for 11 of the last 12 sessions. Overnight Dow Jones closed setting new record highs and closed within 25 points of 20000. Banks led the gains which could spill over to Asian indices also. Strength in the US$, steady flow of ETF money and rise in US bond yields have been the theme after the Trump victory last month. 

The inconvenience caused by the demonetization move is slowly tapering and reports suggest that the prime minister will announce a ‘blitzkrieg of initiatives’ in the new year.  FM Arun Jaitley indicated that tax incentives could be given for small businesses engaged in cashless transactions. For now, the Indian market remains in a limbo of lost dreams. The outlook is a flat start with some buying expected after five days of weakness.

The rupee breached the 68 mark against the US dollar, and the narrowing yield differentials between US and Indian sovereign bonds is offering no comfort at all. The dollar climbed back towards a 14-year high. The Dow is within striking distance of the magical 20,000 mark and if it happens soon, it would be the fastest 1000 point gain for the index. A peek into the past shows that Dow has often struggled for long around these psychological numbers. Eurekahedge Report shows that almost 13% of bn dollar hedge funds posted double-digit gains in 2016, as against 8% in 2015.

Nifty continues to drift lower as low volumes coupled with weak sentiment add to downturn. The index seems set to bounce from oversold territory as 8050 seems to have been defended on the down side. For today expect second half bounce back led by IT, Financials and Metals which should see value buying coupled with short covering driving prices higher.

The benchmark indices of the US including Dow Jones and Nasdaq ended at record highs. Dow Jones missed the 20000 mark by a marginal 25 points. The sentiment was high and positive on the hope of increase in spending towards infrastructure and indicated drop in taxes by President-elect Donald Trump. S&P 500 closed at 2270 up 0.36%, Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 19974 up 0.46% and Nasdaq Composite ended at 5483 up 0.49%. 

The major Asian Indices started off on a positive note, which due to positive outlook of the US indices. Trade volumes were low ahead of the year-end and Christmas holidays, but gains in crude oil and the overall resilience to geopolitical tensions helped shares gain. Hong Kong's Hang Seng opened at 21,770, Japan's Nikkei 225 opened at 19,547, China's Shanghai Composite started at 3,107 and Singapore's Straits Times opened at 2,912. In the morning, Hang Seng had gained over 100 points. At time of filing this reports, the mentioned indices were all trading in green.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold stock futures worth Rs 9.42 billion and bought index futures worth Rs 1.88 billion on the NSE. They also net sold index options worth Rs 2.75 billion. FIIs net sold Indian shares worth Rs 6.86 billion on the BSE, NSE, and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange combined. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 4.19 billion.

American Depository Receipts (ADRs)of Indian companies ended mixed note yesterday. The gainers included Infosys, Rediff.com, Vedanta and HDFC Bank, while the losers include Dr Reddy's, ICICI Bank, Sify, Tata Motors, and Wipro. 

The December futures of SGX Nifty 50 was marginally lower, which points that the Indian indices might have a soft start. SGX Nifty 50 Dec was at 8110 down 21.50 points from Tuesday.

Looking forward, Nifty has found strong support @ 8050 which should hold & faces strong resistance @ 8150. Bank nifty also found support around 18000 which should hold while 18500 will act as resistance on the upside.