Nifty closes below 8,200 as GST Council meet ends with no consensus

In a volatile trading session, the benchmark indices scuttled between gains and losses to settle the day little changed after Centre and state governments failed to reach consensus on the issue of dual control at Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting that ended today. Negative opening in European markets also affected the sentiment. 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 26,633, down 10 points, while Nifty50 closed at 8,190, down 2points. 

Broader markets outpaced headline indices with BSE Midcap losing just 0.1%, while BSE Smallcap gained 0.4%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained slightly positive. On BSE, 1,558 shares rose and 1,134 shares fell. A total of 126 shares remained unchanged.

"Domestic institutions’ consistent buying continued to push stocks higher, allowing markets to ignore FII’s lack of interest. But with GST panel failing to arrive at a consensus, markets ran out of fuel to further the ongoing upsides, especially with FOMC minutes due for release later in the evening," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

Sectors and stocks

BSE Telecom index (up 2.4%) led the sectoral chart thanks to 3.4% gains in Bharti Airtel. The stock pared all its initial losses to emerge as top Sensex gainer. The telecom major on Tuesday announced it would offer free data to woo new and existing 4G customers, intensifying a price war in the sector. 

BSE Realty index (up 2%) rose for seventh consecutive day, led by surge in DLF (up 5.3%), India Bulls Real Estate (up 5.3%), Sobha (up 2.4%) and Unitech (up 1.9%). Other sectoral gainers included BSE Information Technology (0.9%) and BSE Consumer Durables (up 0.8%).

Among individual stocks, Jubilant Life Sciences jumped 12% to Rs 714 after the company announced that its arm signed long term contracts in Radiopharma business.

Denim fabric manufacturer Nandan Denim surged 10.6% to Rs 121 after the Reserve Bank of India raised the company's foreign investment limit.

HCT Technologies moved higher by 2.5% to Rs 856 after the company announced the completion of the acquisition of Butler America Aerospace, LLC with effect from Tuesday, January 3, 2017.

Among decliners, Just Dial lost 1.6% on reports that a foreign brokerage has maintained sell rating on the stock. The brokerage reportedly said that valuation of Just Dial looks good but future of the company looks uncertain. 

Services contract for second month in row

Demonetisation took its toll on the Indian services sector in December as the business activity contracted for the second consecutive month amid steeper reduction in incoming new orders, a monthly survey showed today.

The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which tracks services sector companies on a monthly basis, stood at 46.8 in December, little changed from November's 46.7, indicating a further solid contraction in output.

Global markets

European markets slipped into red as investors awaited flash inflation figures for the euro zone. The pan-European Euro Stoxx was off 0.13%, while France's CAC40 was hovering around the flatline.

Most asian markets, however, settled positive on abundance of upbeat global economic data. Japan's Nikkei rose 2.5% after investors returned from holidays with the yen nursing a three-day slump. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.7%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed little changed.