)
Benchmark share indices ended flat on Monday as investors shrugged off November WPI which came in at 0%.
The 30-share Sensex provisionally ended down 31 points at 27,319 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 5 points at 8,220.
___________________________
(Updated at 14:25PM
Benchmark indices continued to remain flat within a narrow range with both the Sensex and Nifty swinging between negative and positive zone.
India’s wholesale price index-based inflation for November is down to 0% compared to its October level of 1.7% while the IIP data for October 2014 released post market hours on Friday, contracted by 4.2%, lowest in three years as compared to 1.2% in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, retail inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased sharply by 114bps to 4.38% during November 2014 as compared to 5.52% in October 2014.
At 14:25 PM, the 30-share Sensex gained 6 points at 27,358 and the 50-share Nifty rose 5 points to trade at 8,229.
Markets would be keeping a note of corporate advance tax payment this week as that would provide clues on Q3 December 2014 corporate earnings.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 864.96 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Further, investors will also be eyeing the outcome of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy review which begins today.
The rupee extended its losses to 62.78, its lowest level since Feb 4 versus Friday's close of 62.29/30 amid dollar demand from corporates.
Among Asian markets, Japanese stocks fell to their lowest in four weeks on Monday as oil prices tumbled to a new 5-1/2 year low, hitting Wall Street shares and stoking fears of weak global growth.
The Nikkei benchmark lost 1.6% to close at 17,099.40 points, its lowest since Nov. 17.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition scored a landslide in Sunday's general election, as expected. But The victory, which gives the Japanese premier a fresh mandate for market-friendly growth policies, failed to cheer investors as his reflationary strategy to end 15 years of deflation has had only modest success so far.
Back home, BSE IT index has slumped by almost 2% followed by counters like Consumer Durables, Realty, TECk, Power and FMCG, all falling down between 1-1.5%. However, BSE Bankex has gained by 0.5%.
The top losers on the Sensex are TCS, Sesa Sterlite, Cipla, ITC, NTPC, Infosys, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki, all declining between 1-3%.
Shares in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has dipped nearly 4% to Rs 2,355, its lowest level since July 21, 2014 on NSE, the company in an investor update has communicated for a weak revenue growth for the December quarter, arising from seasonality and pressure in its banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) business.
Oil and gas shares are under pressure as global crude prices are expected to fall further on weaker demand and increased supply. RIL and GAIL are down nearly 1%.
HDFC is among the top Sensex gainer, up nearly 5% on reports that Standard Life plans to increase its stake in joint venture HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company to 33% from 26%. HDFC holds 72.4% in the Joint-Venture. HDFC Bank is trading flat while SBI has gained around 1%.
Shares of state-owned companies Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Coal India are trading higher by over 2% each on reports that the government has decided to defer disinvestments plan in both these companies until January.
Other notable gainers are Sun Pharma, Hero Moto, BHEL, Bajaj Auto and Bharti Airtel.
Among other shares, MMTC has surged nearly 13% to Rs 61 on back of heavy volumes on the bourses after Coal India said that it engaged MMTC, through a competitive bidding for arranging imported coal.
The broader markets are underperforming the benchmark indices- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down by almost 0.3%.
The market breadth in BSE remains negative with 1,638 shares declining and 1,091 shares advancing.
