Trades End Lower, Nifty Holds 5900

The Indian markets opened on a positive note today. After a long duration of trading flat, the indices dived down and ended the day in losses. Most of the uncertain, directionless trading was seen ahead of voting in the Rajya Sabha on FDI in multi-brand retail. In the House, the outcome was in favour of the UPA. However, the markets still ended in the red, discounting this win. With this, the Sensex ended the day lower by 62.70 points at 19424.10, down by 0.32%. Nifty ended the day lower by 23.50 points or 0.40%, but managed to hold the 5900 levels.

The Asian stocks saw some strength on opening but closed down. The Hang Seng and Nikkei ended lower by 0.26% and 0.19% respectively. Shanghai Composite gained 1.61% due to increased confidence on China’s new leaders backing their stance on the monetary and fiscal policy to boost economic growth.

European stocks have seen a flat opening for the day. Data released in the UK has stopped the indices from seeing major upward moves. The Office for National Statistics, UK said that industrial production declined 0.8% (MoM) in October 2012. At the same time, production fell 1.3%. This fall has come after an earlier drop in retail sales and exports. All of this data has been indicative of a difficult situation ahead for the UK. The FTSE, DAX and CAC have currently moved by -0.04%, -0.05% and 0.15% respectively.

On the domestic front, there was weakness across all the fronts. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices dropped by 0.08% and 0.10% respectively. Of the 13 sectoral indices, only the BSE Auto index ended the day higher. The gains in the index were a result of strength in the stock prices of Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, which closed higher by 1.94%, 0.57% and 0.74% respectively. These scrips went up over hopes on price rises.

The Indian technology stocks have been lower ever since Cognizant’s SEC filings indicated 16% growth in 2013. This has increased the gloom in the already negative sentiment surrounding the Indian IT sector. TCS, Infosys and Wipro ended the day lower by 1.13%, 0.80% and 0.05% respectively.

Among retail stocks, Pantaloon Retail and Trent ended the day higher by 1.59% and 0.78% respectively, while Shoppers Stop closed lower by 1.38%.

After the losses seen on the bourses today, the weekly gains for the Indian markets moderated, with the Sensex gaining 0.44% and Nifty up 0.47%. Investors are now closely eyeing US employment data for further cues.