Sensex, Nifty register small losses

Amid divergent trend among various constituents of the index, key benchmark indices registered small losses. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, provisionally lost 17.64 points or 0.06% at 28,160.24. The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 656.37 crore yesterday, 17 November 2014, as per provisional data. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in touch with various state governments and most of the contentious issues on the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) have already been resolved. Jaitley said that the targets fixed for disinvestment in the current financial year are quite ambitious one but he hopes to achieve that or reach near the same.

Sugar shares were in demand. Aurobindo Pharma climbs edged higher after issuing a clarification with regard to its capital expenditure plans. Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped after media reports suggested that the company has sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for revoking approvals granted to the firm to launch copies of two drugs including AstraZeneca Plc's heartburn pill Nexium. Reliance Industries rose after its unit Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) signed syndicated term loan facilities aggregating to $1.5 billion.

Earlier, key benchmark indices had struck record high in morning trade after witnessing initial volatility.

In overseas markets, European stocks rose amid signs that the European Central Bank is still on track to take new steps to tackle low inflation. Japanese stocks led gains in Asian markets following reports that Abe will today, 18 November 2014, announce plans to put off a sales-tax increase and call a snap election after data yesterday, 17 November 2014, showed the Japanese economy entered recession.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar.

Brent crude futures reversed initial losses.

As per provisional closing, the S&P BSE Sensex was off 17.64 points or 0.06% to 28,160.24. The index fell 57.93 points at the day's low of 28,119.95 in mid-afternoon trade. The index jumped 104.97 points at the day's high of 28,282.85 in morning trade, a record high for the index.

The CNX Nifty was off 5.85 points or 0.07% at 8,424.90, as per provisional closing. The index hit a low of 8,407.25 in intraday trade. The index hit a high of 8,454.50 in intraday trade, a record high for the index.

The market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was positive. On BSE, 1,761 shares gained and 1,342 shares fell. A total of 99 shares were unchanged.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 28.78 points or 0.28% at 10,276.48. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 105.43 points or 0.93% at 11,443.39. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3634 crore, lower than Rs 3398.97 crore yesterday, 17 November 2014.

Infosys fell 0.68%. The company announced during trading hours today, 18 November 2014, that the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria has selected the company as a strategic partner to design and implement a new cloud-based administration and technology platform.

Aurobindo Pharma rose 3.13%. With respect to a news item captioned "Aurobindo Pharma to spend Rs. 1,300 corore in capex", Aurobindo Pharma today, 18 November 2014, clarified that its capital expenditure (CapEx) including maintenance CapEx is expected to be around Rs 600 crore for FY 2015, which will be spread out across active pharmaceuticals ingredients (APIs) and formulations. The company said it estimates that CapEx in FY 2016 will be around Rs 600 to Rs 700 crore depending upon the cash flows and on review of CapEx needs.

Ranbaxy Laboratories fell 2.25%. Media reports suggested that Ranbaxy Laboratories has sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for revoking approvals granted to the firm to launch copies of two drugs including AstraZeneca Plc's heartburn pill Nexium. The FDA told Ranbaxy this month that it believed its decisions to grant the company tentative approvals for copies of Nexium and Roche AG's antiviral Valcyte were in error, after it found that Ranbaxy's plants at the time were not compliant with the FDA's manufacturing quality standards. The agency also stripped Ranbaxy of six-month market exclusivity on the launch of generic Valcyte. In the suit filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, Ranbaxy said the FDA's move violated constitutional rights, exceeded the agency's statutory authority, and was "arbitrary, capricious, and otherwise contrary to law, according to reports.

Sugar shares were in demand. Simbhaoli Sugar Mills (up 17.91%), Rana Sugars (up 14.03%), Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries (up 12.06%), Oudh Sugar Mills (up 8.93%), Triveni Engineering & Industries (up 8.80%), Sakthi Sugars (up 8.72%), Dwarikesh Sugar Industries (up 8.29%), Bajaj Hindusthan (up 7.11%), Shree Renuka Sugars (up 6.65%), Empee Sugars and Chemicals (up 6.05%), Dhampur Sugar Mills (up 5.32%), Balrampur Chini Mills (up 3.75%), KCP Sugar & Industries Corp (up 3.41%) and DCM Shriram Industries (up 2.95%) edged higher.

Reliance Industries rose 0.68%. Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has signed Syndicated Term Loan Facilities aggregating to $1.5 billion. The facility is guaranteed by Reliance Industries (RIL) and will be used to refinance the syndicated term loan facilities tied up by RJIL in 2010. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 17 November 2014.

Bank shares were mostly higher. Among public sector banks, Bank of Baroda (up 0.06%), State Bank of India (up 0.24%), Bank of India (up 0.62%), Canara Bank (up 1.32%), Union Bank of India (up 1.72%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.28%) and IDBI Bank (up 3.87%), edged higher.

Among private sector banks, ICICI Bank (up 0.52%), Yes Bank (up 0.67%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.25%) edged higher. Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.74%), IndusInd Bank (down 0.66%), Axis Bank (down 0.23%) and Federal Bank (down 0.14%), edged lower.

Telecom stocks rose across the board on reports Defence Ministry and Telecom Ministry will coordinate to resolve spectrum issue. Reliance Communications (up 8.13%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 3.42%), Idea Cellular (up 2.34%) and Bharti Airtel (up 1.90%) edged higher.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad have reportedly agreed to work in consent, coordination and synergy to resolve spectrum related issues. Based on various recommendations and agreements, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) expects Defence ministry to clear about 165 Mhz of spectrum across frequency bands. Out of all bands, there is immediate demand for 3G spectrum in frequency band 2100 Mhz. Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that spectrum in 2100 Mhz band, a part of which is with the Defence Ministry, should be put up for auction along with two sets of spectrum bands- 900Mhz and 1800Mhz in February next year, reports added.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 61.7675, compared with its close of 61.74 during the previous trading session.

Brent crude futures reversed initial losses. Brent for January settlement was up 37 cents to $79.68 a barrel. The contract had lost 10 cents to settle at $79.31 yesterday, 17 November 2014.

Oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet in Vienna on 27 November 2014 to consider whether to adjust their output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) for early 2015.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, 17 November 2014, said that he is in touch with the various state governments and most of the contentious issues on the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) have already been resolved. The Finance Minister was delivering the Key Note Address at the Citi's Investor Summit: India - Poised for Higher Growth. Jaitley said there are two areas including liquor and petroleum products where the state governments want to have taxation authority. Jaitley said two state governments want entry tax and octroi to be kept-out of the purview of the GST. The Finance Minster said that all these issues will be sorted-out soon. Jaitley said he will apprise the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers' about the draft Constitution Amendment Bill on GST before introducing the same in parliament. Jaitley said that the targets fixed for disinvestment in the current financial year are quite ambitious one but he hopes to achieve that or reach near the same. He said that road shows in this regard are being held in many parts of the world.

The Finance Minister said that inflation, especially food inflation has moderated in last few months and global fuel prices have also come down. Therefore, if RBI which is highly professional organization in its wisdom decides to bring down the cost of capital, it will give a good fillip to the Indian economy, Jaitley said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) next undertakes monetary policy review on 2 December 2014. The central bank aims to limit consumer-price gains to 8% by January 2015 and 6% by January 2016. Over the longer term, the RBI aims to limit consumer-price gains to 4%, within a 2% band. The annual rate of inflation based on the combined consumer price index (CPI) for urban and rural India eased to 5.52% in October 2014 from 6.46% in September 2014, data released by the government on 12 November 2014 showed.

Meanwhile, a joint statement issued today, 18 November 2014, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit to Australia from 16-18 November 2014 stated that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Modi agreed to expedite progress towards early conclusion of the administrative arrangements to implement the Civil Nuclear Agreement signed between Australia and India during Abbott's visit to India in September. Australian supply of uranium in coming years will enhance India's energy security, the joint statement stated.

European stocks rose today, 18 November 2014, amid signs that the European Central Bank is still on track to take new steps to tackle low inflation. Key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were up 0.4% to 0.81%.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi explicitly cited government-bond buying as a policy tool officials could use to stimulate the economy if the outlook worsens. He was speaking during quarterly testimony to lawmakers at the European Parliament yesterday, 17 November 2014.

Japanese stocks led gains in Asian markets today, 18 November 2014, on reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will today, 18 November 2014, announce plans to put off a sales-tax increase and call a snap election after data yesterday, 17 November 2014, showed the Japanese economy entered recession. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea and were up 0.76% to 2.18%. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan were off 0.28% to 1.13%.

Deputy policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party reportedly said that the Japanese government will order the creation of an economic stimulus package.

A two-day monetary policy meeting of the Bank of Japan concludes tomorrow, 19 November 2014. At the last meeting on 31 October 2014, the Japanese central bank stepped up its already aggressive easing to prevent deflation from budding again.

Indonesia's central bank Bank Indonesia will hold an extraordinary meeting today, 18 November 2014, after the government yesterday, 17 November 2014, announced an increase in the price of subsidized fuel by roughly a third.

Trading in US index futures indicated a flat opening of US stocks today, 18 November 2014. Most US stocks ended higher yesterday, 17 November 2014, as deal activity worth $100 billion and hopes of more European stimulus offset concerns about overseas growth after Japan's economy slipped into recession.

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