Yesterday we had said that unless the Nifty closes decisively above 6,055, the trend will be down. Indeed, we may see a sharper decline ahead. We got that decline today. The downtrend may persist for a few more days
 

Domestic indices which were trading in a narrow range in the morning session moved into the negative zone in the noon session. Yesterday we had said that unless the Nifty closes decisively above 6,055, the trend will be down. Indeed, we may see a sharper decline ahead. We got that decline today. The downtrend may persist for a few more days. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw volume of 95.64 crore shares while the advance decline ratio was 567:895.

The Sensex opened 28 points higher at 19,770 while the Nifty opened five points higher at 6,006. The indices soon hit their respective days high at 19,824 and 6,020.

But with beginning of the noon session, the Nifty went into the red amid tension between India and Pakistan following the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. The Sensex and the Nifty hit a six-day low (including today). The Sensex hit a low of 19,627 while the Nifty hit a low of 5,958. The Sensex closed at 19,667 (76 points lower, down by 0.38%) while the Nifty closed at 5,972 (30 points lower, down by 0.50%)

India cut its forecast for fuel demand in the current fiscal year by nearly 1% to 155.6 million tonnes, government data showed, due to a slowdown in economic activity.

Ratings agency Crisil today said a revival in consumption will push up the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 6.7% in FY14, from 5.5% estimated for the current fiscal (FY13). According to the agency the improvement in the farm sector, lower interest rates and higher government spending will drive the consumption demand. Crisil also said it expects fiscal deficit to fall to 5.5% in 2013-14 from the 5.8% it estimates for FY13.

After reaffirming its ‘negative’ outlook on the country’s sovereign credit rating, the global ratings agency Fitch has warned that China's "investment-driven growth model" faces increasingly serious constraints due to heavy debt financing by local governments. The agency announced yesterday a currency sovereign rating of AA- for China, on a negative outlook, while it kept its stable outlook of A+ for the country's foreign debt holdings.

The market now awaits the December 2012 results by the Indian companies.

Among the broader indices, the BSE Mid-cap index fell 0.48% and the BSE Small-cap index fell 0.25%.

The sectoral gainers were led by BSE Auto (up 0.74%); BSE Oil & Gas (up 0.50%); BSE PSU index (up 0.17%) and BSE Healthcare (up 0.04%). BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods (down 1.26%); BSE Consumer Durables (down 1.21%); BSE Metal (down 1.18%); BSE Capital Goods (down 1.01%) and BSE Power (down 0.83%) were the main losers.

11 of the 30 stocks on the Sensex closed in the positive. The chief gainers were Tata Motors (up 3.98%); GAIL (up 1.62%); SBI (up 1.13%); Coal India (up 1.01%); Sun Pharma (up 0.94%). The key losers were BHEL (down 2.69%); Tata Steel (down 2.54%); Bajaj Auto (down 1.96%); ITC (down 1.93%); TCS (down 1.74%).

The top two A Group gainers on the BSE were—Suzlon Energy (up 7.05%) and Havells India (up 4.94%).

The top two A Group losers on the BSE were—Bhushan Steel (down 7.46%) and Pipavav Defence (down 4.97%).

The top two B Group gainers on the BSE were—Chemfab Alklies (up 19.95%) and Satra Properties (up 18.63%).

The top two B Group losers on the BSE were—Arshiya International (down 19.97%) and C. Mahendra Exports (down 19.97%).

Out of the 50 stocks listed on the Nifty, 14 stocks settled in the positive. The major gainers were Tata Motors (up 4.09%); GAIL (up 1.66%); Coal India (up 1.50%); ONGC (up 1.43%); Bharti Airtel (up 1.24%). The top losers were BHEL (down 2.91%); Tata Steel (down 2.69%); Ambuja Cements (down 2.67%); ITC (down 2.43%) and UltraTech Cement (down 2.19%).

The Asian indices had mixed outcomes of almost flat closing for the day with most of them ending with a positive bias. The highest gainer among the Asian indices was Nikkei 225 (rose 0.67%) while Jakarta Composite fell the most (0.79%). At the time of writing, the European indices were trading higher and the US stock futures exhibited a similar trend.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totaling Rs848.95 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares amounting Rs518.30 crore.

UK-based GlaxoSmithKline has received SEBI’s approval for its over Rs 5,200 crore open offer for Indian subsidiary GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The UK parent had made an offer to acquire up to 13,389,410 shares, representing 31.8% of the total outstanding shares of the GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The company would buy the shares at Rs 3,900 apiece taking the potential total value of the transaction to around Rs 5,220 crore. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer rose 0.19% to close at Rs 3,865 on the NSE.

Yes Bank has launched an online remittance platform for non-resident Indians, called “Yes Remit”. The service will cater to NRIs in the Gulf countries, United Kingdom and Euro zone. The facility allows NRIs to send money into an account with Yes Bank or any other bank account in India. The service is being offered jointly with Times of Money. Yes Bank closed 0.96% higher at Rs 504.45 on the NSE.