Market languishes in red

After a shaky start, key benchmark indices languished in negative zone in morning trade. At 10:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 117.78 points or 0.35% at 33,338.01. The Nifty 50 index declined 47.30 points or 0.46% at 10,274.95.

Key indices slipped on profit booking after previous three sessions of gains. Also, lack of proper direction in Asian trading dented investor sentiment.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.29%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 0.02%. Both the indices outperformed the Sensex.

Overseas, Asian stocks were mixed. US equities closed higher yesterday, 11 December 2017, reversing earlier weakness following a terror incident near New York City's Times Square. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 notched record closing highs.

The US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) starts its two-day meeting on interest rates later in global day today, 12 December 2017. The US Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision tomorrow, 13 December 2017. The Federal Reserve left the target range for its federal funds rate unchanged at 1% to 1.25% during its November 2017 meeting as widely expected.

Closer home, the breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 1,095 shares declined and 987 shares rose. A total of 103 shares were unchanged.

Metal and mining stocks edged higher. Vedanta (up 2.39%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.51%), National Aluminium Company (up 1.29%), JSW Steel (up 1.08%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 0.91%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.55%), Tata Steel (up 0.66%), Steel Authority of India (up 0.74%), NMDC (up 0.08%) and Hindustan Copper (up 0.33%) gained.

Cement stocks edged lower. UltraTech Cement (down 1.2%), Ambuja Cements (down 0.97%) and ACC (down 0.7%) declined. Shree Cement (up 0.2%) and Grasim Industries (up 0.11%) edged higher.

Nandan Denim lost 1.15% to Rs 167.35 after net profit fell 0.49% to Rs 16.12 crore on 37.12% growth in net sales to Rs 414.98 crore in Q2 September 2017 over Q2 September 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 11 December 2017.

On macro front, the government will announce industrial production data for October today, 12 December 2017. India's industrial production increased by 3.8% year-on-year in September, following an upwardly revised 4.5% gain in the previous month.

The government will announce today, 12 December 2017, inflation data based on consumer price index (CPI) for November. Consumer prices increased 3.58% year-on-year in October, above 3.28% in September.

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