Key indices witness divergent trend

A divergent trend was witnessed among the two key benchmark indices in afternoon trade with the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, trading with minuscule gains and the 50-unit Nifty 50 index trading with small losses. At 13:16 IST, the Sensex was up 14.10 points or 0.06% at 25,164.45. The Nifty was currently down 3.60 points or 0.05% at 7,646.45. The Sensex rose 45.47 points or 0.18% at the day's high of 25,195.82 in afternoon trade, its highest level since 11 December 2015. The barometer index fell 74.81 points or 0.29% at the day's low of 25,075.54 in morning trade. The Nifty rose 13.90 points or 0.18% at the day's high of 7,663.95 at the onset of the trading session, matching the intraday high it had hit yesterday, 14 December 2015. The Nifty fell 24.95 points or 0.32% at the day's low of 7,625.10 in morning trade.

In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend amid caution ahead of a highly anticipated US Federal Reserve meeting this week. The Fed is widely expected to raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points after the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy meeting on 16 December 2015. With markets having already priced in a 25 basis points rate hike this week, the focus has shifted to the likely pace and quantum of rate hikes once this first move is done. US stocks ended a volatile session with modest gains yesterday, 14 December 2015, lifted by a rebound in crude-oil prices.

Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,326 shares rose and 1,052 shares fell. A total of 178 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.01%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.31%, outperforming the Sensex.

Cement stocks were mixed. ACC (down 0.53%) and Ambuja Cements (down 0.41%) declined. Shree Cement (up 0.71%) and UltraTech Cement (up 0.36%) edged higher.

Grasim Industries was up 0.48%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Capital goods stocks were mostly lower. Suzlon Energy (down 1.43%), Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.17%), Bharat Electronics (down 0.99%), Havells India (down 1.09%), Crompton Greaves (down 2.05%), Thermax (down 0.07%), Praj Industries (down 0.25%), AIA Engineering (down 0.2%) and Siemens (down 0.33%) edged lower. ABB India (up 4.17%), Alstom T&D India (up 1.01%), Lakshmi Machine Works (up 1.08%), L&T (up 0.4%) and BEML (up 0.33%) edged higher.

Shriram EPC rose 2.3% at Rs 33.35 after the company announced after market hours yesterday, 14 December 2015, that its board of directors would meet on 18 December 2015 to consider and approve conversion of the working capital term loan of the corporate debt restructuring (CDR) lenders into equity shares of the company. The company's board of directors would also consider infusion of equity capital by the promoters through preferential allotment.

United Bank of India rose 3.28% at Rs 22.05 after the bank said that a meeting of its board of directors will be held on 18 December 2015 to consider the proposal to raise equity capital by way of preferential allotment of up to Rs 1500 crore to the Government of India (GoI) or Life Insurance Corporation of India or funds thereof or such other investors as may be decided provided that the government's holding at any time shall not fall below 51% of the equity capital of the bank. The bank made the announcement during market hours today, 15 December 2015.

The Government of India (GoI) and LIC respectively held 82% and 12.12% stake in United Bank of India as per the shareholding pattern as on 30 September 2015.

On the macro front, data released by the government after trading hours yesterday, 14 December 2015, showed that inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) spiked to 5.41% in November 2015 from 5% in October 2015. The acceleration in consumer price inflation was driven by an increase in food prices.

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