Market falls flat: F&O rollovers ahead

It was lacklustre session of trading as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of derivatives expiry on Thursday. Benchmark indices moved in a narrow range for the major part of the day with bouts of volatility witnessed during the trading session.
 
The 30-share BSE Sensex index finished the day at 20,415 levels down 10 points from its previous close while NSE Nifty slipped by 2 points to close at 6,057 levels.
 
Market remained volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the near month November to December and July-September GDP data on Friday.
 
"Nifty’s movement was choppy and it was stuck in a narrow range ahead of the F&O expiry. Going forward situation in markets remains quiet tricky as violation of previous swing low at 5,970 could trigger sharp sell-off in the market. Moreover, Bank Nifty is consolidating in a bearish triangle pattern. A break below 10,790 could accentuate selling pressure in the near term," said Pritesh Mehta, Sr. Technical Analyst at IIFL.
 
The rupee was trading marginally strong in morning trade due to dollar sale by banks. At 3:47 PM, the rupee was trading at Rs 62.21 compared with previous close of Rs 62.50 per dollar. Despite month-end dollar demand, the rupee has been trading strong due to dollar sale by corporates.
 
Currency dealers see the rupee trading in the range of Rs 62.00 to Rs 62.80 for the rest of the day.
 
On the global front, Asian share markets nudged into the red on Wednesday following an uninspiring performance by Wall Street, while a dip in the dollar against the yen prompted profit-taking on Japanese stocks.
 
European markets are higher today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 0.24% while Germany's DAX is up 0.24% and France's CAC 40 is up 0.18%.
 
Closer home, Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.82% and the Hang Seng rose 0.53%. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.42%.
 
While on the home turf, BSE consumer durables, FMCG, Auto, metals, capital goods, oil & gas and PSU finished the day with gains on the BSE sectoral indices while Power, Realty, IT, Healthcare and banks were the top laggards. 
 
The main losers on the Sensex today were Bharti Airtel, NTPC, SBI, Sesa Sterlite, Wipro and Cipla which were donw between 1-1.7%.
 
On the gaining side, Tata Motors, ITC, ONGC, Coal India, Dr. Reddy's labs and Tata Steel gained between 0.7-2%.
 
The market breadth in BSE remained weak with 1,338 shares declining and 1134 shares advancing.
 
Exuding confidence that economy will be back on high growth trajectory, Plan panel Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said that GDP will expand by over 6% next fiscal and performance will be better in second half of this fiscal.
 
"I could easily say that it (economic growth) will be over 6%, depending upon the policy of new government," Ahluwalia said addressing an event of Indian School of Business.
 
Premiere stock exchange BSE will launch its platform for trading in currency derivatives from Friday, making it the fourth bourse in the country to offer such trades.
 
Other stock exchanges present in the currency futures segment are -- National Stock Exchange (NSE), MCX-SX and United Stock Exchange (USE).
 
"Exchange is pleased to inform trading members that it will be launching trading in Currency and Interest Rate Derivatives with effect from Friday, November 29, 2013," BSE said in a notification.
 
Among other shares, Wockhardt plunged over 8% to close at Rs 430.15 on media reports that the U S Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) issued an import alert for the drug maker's Chikalthana facility at Aurangabad.

Page Industries ended 3.2% at Rs 5,130 on the bourses in otherwise weak market.
 
Shares of Edelweiss Financial Services surged 2.1% to close at Rs 25.80 after the company announced hiking the FII holding limit to 28% from 24%.