Nifty holds 8,300 amid rangebound trades

Benchmark indices are trading in a tight range with Sensex trading lower owing losses in oil and technology shares amid decline in crude prices. However, buying in FMCG and healthcare shares has limit losses.

At 1 PM, the 30-share Sensex is down 48 points at 27,536 and the 50-share Nifty is up 11 points at 8,333.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 245 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

The Indian rupee continued to firm up against the US dollar and was up at 62.07 compared to the previous close of Rs 62.16 post encouraging November IIP data.

Crude:

Prices of crude oil fell to the lowest level in more than five years after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA reduced their price forecasts and Venezuela called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producers to work together to spur a rebound.

Key Stocks:

On the sectoral front, BSE Oil & Gas and Realty indices are the top losers down over 1%. However, BSE Consumer durables, FMCG and Healthcare indices are trading higher between 0.5-1%.

Among the FMCG majors ITC is up 0.5% while Hindustan Unilever witnessed profit taking and is down over 1% down after sharp gains in the previous few sessions after recent upgrades by several brokerages including Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.

Financials witnessed a mixed trend after a better-than-expected Dec retail inflation data raised hopes that the RBI would cut rates in Feb. SBI and Axis Bank are trading higher by 0.3% and 1% each while private banking majors such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank have lost 0.8% and 0.1% each.

Capital goods are trading higher on encouraging November industrial growth. BHEL is the top index gainer and is up 2.3%. L&T is trading with marginal gains.

Infosys witnessed profit taking and is down over 1% after strong gains in the previous sessions post the third quarter earnings. TCS is marginally down ahead of its results on Thursday.

In the healthcare space, Shares of Cipla are up over 1.5% at Rs 640 amid reports that the company might re-start supplying anti-HIV drugs to the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) in the next two months. Its counterparts Dr Reddy’s Lab and Sun Pharma are up 0.7% and 0.3% each. 

Oil shares are down tracking weak global crude oil prices. ONGC and Reliance Industries are down between 1-2.5% . According to reports, the government's stake sale plan in ONGC and Coal India could be called off because of the depressed share prices of the state-owned companies.

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap are performing better than the front-liners with gains of 0.5% each. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,442 advances against 1,205 declines.

Asia Markets:

In Asia, markets were trading mixed following weak cues from Wall Street as oil prices slipped below $50 per barrel after Goldman Sachs Group cut its crude outlook, predicting prices will remain low for a lengthy period. China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 0.8% and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average is trading lower by 0.6%.