Weakness in European stocks weighed on Indian stocks as key benchmark indices slipped into the red from green after a strong intraday rebound. At 14:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 4.13 points or 0.02% at 24,849.98. The 50-unit Nifty 50 index was currently down 4.90 points or 0.06% at 7,557.50. The Sensex fell below the psychological 25,000 soon after piercing that mark in afternoon trade. The broad market depicted weakness.
The Sensex hit its highest level in almost a week when it rose 164.35 points or 0.66% at the day's high of 25,018.46 in afternoon trade. The barometer index fell 380.89 points or 1.53% at the day's low of 24,473.22 in early trade. The Nifty rose 42.40 points or 0.56% at the day's high of 7,604.80 in afternoon trade, its highest level since 11 January 2016. The index fell 118.60 points or 1.56% at the day's low of 7,443.80 in early trade.
In overseas stock markets, European shares declined after oil price volatility helped drive Wall Street to its biggest drop in three months overnight. Asian stocks hovered in negative zone, with investor sentiment hit adversely due to a selloff in US stocks overnight. Yet, most Asian markets traded off intraday lows, with the Shanghai Composite index moving to positive zone from negative zone. The Shanghai Composite index ended with gains of 1.97% after falling as much as 2.8% earlier during the trading session. US stocks slumped yesterday, 13 January 2016, as a rout in oil prices heightened worries about the global economy.
Closer home, the broad market depicted weakness. There were more than two losers against every gainer on BSE. On BSE, 1,742 shares fell and 844 shares rose. A total of 160 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently down 0.8%. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.86%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
Index heavyweight and engineering & construction major L&T was down 1.28% at Rs 1,142.95. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,158.05 and a low of Rs 1,111.15 so far during the day.
Shares of oil exploration and production firms declined as crude oil prices edged lower. Cairn India (down 1.23%), Oil India (down 1.50%), Reliance Industries (RIL) (down 0.62%) and ONGC (down 0.31%), declined. Fall in crude oil prices would result in lower realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms.
Shares of two public sector oil marketing companies rose after slide in global crude oil prices. HPCL (up 1.94%) and BPCL (up 1.01%) edged higher. Indian Oil Corporation was down 0.58%. Decline in crude oil prices could reduce under-recoveries of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) on domestic sale of LPG and kerosene at government controlled prices. However, a weakness in rupee against the dollar will restrict the benefit of falling global crude oil prices to that extent. A weak rupee raises the cost of imports. The government has already decontrolled pricing of petrol and diesel.
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Brent for February settlement was currently down 20 cents at $30.11 a barrel. The contract had lost 55 cents or 1.78% to settle at $30.31 a barrel during the previous trading session. Brent for March settlement was currently down 17 cents at $30.11 a barrel. Brent February contract expires today, 14 January 2016.
In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee was currently hovering at 67.1975, compared with its close of 66.855 during the previous trading session.
Capital goods were mixed. Punj Lloyd (down 2.28%), Crompton Greaves (down 2.1%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.82%), BEML (down 1.78%), Jindal Saw (down 1.71%), Bharat Electronics (down 1.51%), Siemens (down 1.37%), Thermax (down 1.31%), Alstom T&D India (down 1.28%), Suzlon Energy (down 1.2%) and ABB India (down 0.24%), edged lower. Lakshmi Machine Works (up 0.12%), ALSTOM India (up 0.48%), SKF India (up 1.66%), Havells India (up 1.97%), AIA Engineering (up 2%), Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company (up 2.13%) and Praj Industries (up 3.33%), edged higher.
Realty shares were mixed. Anant Raj (down 3.66%), DLF (down 2.63%), Phoenix Mills (down 2.6%), Parsvnath Developers (down 2.56%), Oberoi Realty (down 2.24%), Indiabulls Real Estate (down 1.86%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (down 0.7%), Sobha (down 0.43%) and D B Realty (down 0.29%), edged lower. Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 0.59%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 0.73%), Peninsula Land (up 0.96%), Unitech (up 1.15%), Godrej Properties (up 2.11%) and Sunteck Realty (up 2.43%), edged higher.
Idea Cellular was down 0.83% at Rs 120.15. Idea Cellular during trading hours today, 14 January 2016, announced the launch of its high speed 4G LTE services across four more states in India (three Telecom Circles) - Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. With this launch, the company has expanded its 4G LTE service footprint to 7 telecom service areas. Idea's 4G LTE services will be available across 183 towns in these 7 telecom service areas by 31 January 2016.
On the macro front, the latest data showed that inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) remained in negative zone last month. WPI inflation stood at minus 0.73% in December 2015, compared with a reading of negative 1.99% in November 2015. Meanwhile, the headline WPI for October 2015 was revised to a reading of minus 3.7% from 3.81% reported earlier.
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