Gap down for the market today

Indian equity benchmarks are poised to open lower on Monday as markets in Asia succumbed to a severe sell-off as dismal China inflation data fanned further concerns over the health of the world’s second biggest economy, souring risk taking appetite. The CNX Nifty Index futures for January delivery fell by 0.58 per cent or 44 points at 7,560 at 10:26 am Singapore time, a sign that Dalal Street may witness a bearish opening today. Producer prices in China fell for a record 46th month on the trot in December while consumer inflation remained at about half of the government’s 2015 target, signaling further economic weakness in the country’s economy, making global investors jittery. Back home, traders will eye the start of the Q3 corporate earnings season with big names such as TCS, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Zee Entertainment and IndusInd Bank set to unveil their December quarter report cards this week. Further, the December consumer and wholesale inflation numbers, and the November industrial output data are due this week, with analysts expecting retail inflation to have accelerated to 5.6 per cent from 5.41 per cent in November 2015, and IIP growth to have slowed to 3.1 per cent from October’s five-year high of 9.8 per cent, on an annual basis. Sentiment this week will continue to be dictated by global developments with China remaining in focus, while movement of the rupee against the dollar and crude oil prices will also influence sentiment at domestic bourses. On Friday, the 30-share Sensex snapped a four-day losing streak, advancing by 82.5 points or by 0.33 per cent to end at 24,934.33 as the China rout that had sucked global financial markets on Thursday erasing as much as USD 4 trillion from equities worldwide last week, eased after the country’s officials scrapped a controversial market circuit breaker system and refrained from a further weakening of the Yuan. However, the Sensex plunged by 1,226.57 points or 4.68 per cent last week on concerns over heightened middle east tensions amidst the Saudi-Iran diplomatic row and worries over China.

Asian markets slid on Monday after China’s December inflation data disappointed traders, raising fresh fears over Asia’s biggest economy. China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.69 per cent and Hang Seng tumbled over 2.4 per cent after Chinese producer prices plunged 5.9 per cent in December 2015 from the same month a year ago, while consumer inflation stood at 1.6 per cent, compared to the government’s 2015 target of 3 per cent, signaling weak demand in the country’s economy. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell nearly 0.40 per cent as a stronger yen curbed the lure for exporter stocks. Wall Street sank on Friday, marking the worst week since 2011 as China’s continued depreciation of the Yuan threatened to start a global currency war while signaling that the China slowdown was worse than feared. Traders cast aside a blockbuster December jobs report which showed that employers added nearly 300K jobs while the unemployment rate remained at a seven-year low, lifting the outlook for the world’s biggest economy. Non-farm payrolls in the US climbed by a whopping 292,000 in December, following an upwardly revised 252,000 gain in November and topping expectations of a 200,000 advance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1.02 per cent; the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.98 per cent while S&P 500 fell 1.08 per cent.

Top traded Volumes on NSE Nifty – Vedanta Ltd. 14021580.00, ICICI Bank Ltd. 13094901.00, State Bank of India 11745840.00, Axis Bank Ltd. 11307470.00 and Tata Motors Ltd. 8770370.00.

On BSE, total number of shares traded was 36.52 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 3603.62 Crore.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 225664 with a total turnover of Rs. 12278.43 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 463811 with a total turnover of Rs. 23676.03 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 2390129 with a total turnover of Rs. 136395.60 Crore and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 248623 with a total turnover of Rs. 13083.06 Crore.

The FIIs on 08/01/2016 stood as net seller in equity and net buyer in debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs. 3654.82 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs. 4342.73 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs. 4598.80 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 381.77 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs. -943.98 Crore and Rs. 3960.96 Crore.