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Benchmark indices continued to trade in a tight range with a negative bias dragged down by heavyweights.
By 11:35am, the Sensex was lower by 31.76 points at 21,161.82 and the Nifty slipped by 15.70 points at 6,298.10.
Broader markets are on the move today with BSE mid-caps and small-caps indices trading 0.4% higher.
Pritesh Mehta, Sr Technical Analyst, India Infoline, “Despite a major breakout at the start of the month, Nifty is unable to build on the gains. Current run up is lacking participation from the leadership stocks. Index is struggling to close above the previous breakout levels of 6,360 for three consecutive weeks now. In order to confirm trend reversal, Nifty needs to surpass and sustain above the congestion zone 6,300-6,350 where steady supply is visible.”
Foreign funds were net buyers of Indian stocks on Friday, 27 December 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 295.76 crore on Friday, 27 December 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Government's service tax amnesty scheme has recieved an overwhelming response, said the revenue secretary in a press conference today. A total of 40,000 declerations amounting to Rs 5,500 crore were recieved under the scheme, till December 29,2013. No extension to the scheme will be given and the same will end at midnight December 31.
Also, a financial stability report issued by the Reserve Bank of India said India is better prepared for US Federeal Reserve's tapering of its 85-billion-a-month bond buying program. It however raised concerns over high inflation amidst growth slowdown. Fall in domestic savings and high fiscal deficit are other major concerns for India. Inadequate social security coverage in India against a backdrop of changing demographics will pose challenges for expanding the pension system given the fiscal constraints, said the report. RBI also raised concerns on asset quality of banks. Five sectors, namely, Infrastructure, Iron & Steel, Textiles, Aviation and Mining together contribute 24 percent of total advances of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), and account for around 53 per cent of their total stressed advances.
Investors will now watch the April-November fiscal deficit data, due on Tuesday, and the manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) for December, due on Thursday, which will help them gain insights into the extent of the economic slowdown.
On the global front, Japan's Nikkei stock average hit a fresh six-year high on Monday, its final trading day for 2013, and is set to close the year up more than 55% to mark its biggest annual gain since 1972.
The Nikkei advanced 0.3% to 16,230.23 in mid-morning trade, on track for a ninth straight day of gains, which would be its longest winning streak since July 2009.
Japanese markets will be closed for the New Year holiday from December 31 to January 3, and will reopen on January 6.
Driven by Tokyo's aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus to revive the world's third-largest economy, the benchmark Nikkei has rallied 56% this year.
Back home, the rupee was weaker in early trade tracking strength in dollar vs other currencies in Asia. It was trading at 61.99 versus its close of 61.85/86 on Friday.
On the sectoral front, BSE Capital Goods and IT indioces have plunged by nearly 1% each followed by counters like Realty, Power and Oil & Gas, all declining marginally. However, BSE Metal and Consumer Durables indices have gained marginally.
The main losers on the Sensex at this hour include Bajaj Auto, Wipro, L&T, Infosys and ONGC, all falling between 0.5-1%.
On the gaining side, Sesa Sterlite, Tata Motors, Coal India, Dr Reddy’s Lab and HUL gained between 1-2%.
Railway stocks are on a roll and trading higher by up to 7% on reports that the government may allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in railways.
Kalindee Rail Nirman, Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco Rail and Engineers, Hind Rectifiers, Kernax Microsystems and Stone India are up 3-7% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Claris Lifesciences has galloped 16% to Rs 229 in early morning deals on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on back of multiple block deals.
The broader markets are outperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up marginally.
The market breadth in BSE remains positive with 971 shares advancing and 680 shares declining.
