Market may decline as US Fed minutes hints at stimulus tapering

The market may edge lower on weak Asian stocks. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 28.50 points at the opening bell. Asian markets dropped on Thursday morning after the US Federal Reserve's October 29-30 meeting hinted at stimulus tapering.

ONGC may be in focus on reports its overseas unit ONGC Videsh (OVL) and State oil group Petrovietnam have signed a memorandum on joint exploration of crude oil. The exploration pact between Petrovietnam and OVL would allow activities in Vietnam, India as well as in a third country, reports added.

Tata Power Company may be in focus on reports Vietnam's Industry and Trade Ministry has signed a memorandum with the company on the construction of a $1.8 billion thermal power plant in Vietnam's southern province of Soc Trang.

Sugar companies will be in focus after Uttar Pradesh retained last year's state advised price of Rs 280 per quintal for sugarcane for the 2013-14 crushing season which began in October. Private sugar millers' appeal for a lower rate was reportedly not considered and the waiver was insignificant. Private sugar mills have been posting losses on account of selling sugar at lower prices.

Key benchmark indices edged lower, with a lion's shares of the losses materializing during the last one hour or so of trade. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 255.69 points or 1.22% to settle at 20,635.13, its lowest closing level since 14 November 2013.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 80.40 crore on Wednesday, 20 November 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Asian markets dropped on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's October 29-30 meeting hinted at stimulus tapering. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea fell by 0.48% to 1.05%. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.63%.

China manufacturing activity growth slipped to a two-month low as export orders swung to a decline, according to preliminary results from HSBC's monthly gauge of the sector, released Thursday. The "flash" version of the HSBC/Markit China manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index eased to 50.4, compared to last month's 50.9 reading. The result was also well below the official government version of the PMI, which hit 51.4 in October. Among the sub-indexes, new export orders slid below the 50 mark dividing growth from contraction, while overall new orders rose, but at a slower rate than in October. The closely watched employment sub-index also showed a decrease after indicating growth the previous month. The flash PMI generally includes 85% to 90% of the total responses used in the final edition of the report.

Singapore's economy grew in the third quarter due to a strong performance by the services sector and improvement in manufacturing, contrary to contraction estimated by the government last month.

Gross domestic product for the three months to Sept. 30 rose 1.3% on a seasonally adjusted and annualized basis, according to revised estimates released Thursday by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Growth in the second quarter was also revised to 17.4%, from 16.9% reported last month.

The government now expects the island nation's economy to grow between 3.5% and 4.0% in 2013, compared with its previous projection of 2.5%-3.5%. The economy is expected to grow between 2.0% and 4.0% in 2014, the government said.

Compared with the year-earlier quarter, the economy expanded 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the revised estimates. That compared with a 5.1% growth for the quarter reported last month.

The second quarter GDP growth was revised to 4.4% on year, compared with 4.2% reported last month.

Output in the manufacturing sector rose 5.5% on year in the third quarter, compared with a 1.3% expansion in the previous quarter. Services sector output grew 6.3% on year, while the construction sector expanded 5.3%, the data showed.

US stocks fell on Wednesday after Federal Reserve meeting minutes signaled the central bank was on track to slow down its $85 billion a month bond bond-buying program that has boosted the equity market.

The US Federal Reserve is considering cutting the interest it pays to banks on their reserves to offset an eventual slowing of monthly asset purchases programme at one of its next few meetings provided this was warranted by economic growth, according to Federal Reserve Open Market Committee minutes.

The FOMC, according to the minutes, also saw the U.S. economy growing at a "moderate" pace and discussed various public communications strategies aimed at more clearly describing the Fed's forward guidance.

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