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Ravindra N. Sonavane

Sensex, Nifty mostly flat; market eyes economic data

Indian equities to take further cues from inflation data due today and tomorrow.

Mumbai: Indian equities traded largely flat on Wednesday as the market awaits key economic data. At 12pm, the benchmark Sensex was a tad down at 40334.35 points, while the Nifty 50 was down 0.08% at 11906.40 points.

The consumer price inflation and wholesale price inflation data for October will be released on 13 November and 14 November respectively. According to a Bloomberg poll, CPI is seen at 4.34% in October compared with 3.99% a month ago, while WPI expected at (-)0.22%.

Domestic investors were worried about deepening economic slowdown after data showed that India’s factory output contracted for the second straight month to a near eight-year low of 4.3% in September. Given the slowdown in factory output, analysts expect the Indian economy to have grown at less than 5% for the September quarter. The GDP data for September quarter is due on 29 November.

"The persistent slowdown in industrial growth may force RBI to go for another round of policy rate cut in months. However, a possible rise of headline inflation above the medium term target of RBI (4%) may act as a point of caution before RBI does a rate cut.” said Rahul Gupta, Head of Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Asian indices had opened weak today, following a subdued overnight close to US indices after President Donald Trump said Washington will increase tariffs on Chinese goods if the first step of a broader agreement isn’t reached.

Back home, Infosys Ltd fell 1.2% as the company received a second whistleblower complaint accusing chief executive Salil Parekh of misdemeanours.

"The latest negative news shall further add downward press and can drag the prices near previous lows until further clarification comes from the management", said CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari.

Given the current uncertain scenario, the stock should be avoided until the there is enough clarity on the matter, according to Ajit Mishra, vice-president research, Religare Broking.

Tata Consultancy Services rose 3.2% followed by Reliance Industries Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd which gained 2.4% and 1.9% respectively.

Among laggards, Tech Mahindra Ltd fell 1.5% followed by ITC and State Bank of India which fell 1.1% each.

Shares of Sun TV Network Ltd fell 10.5% to 473.40 after the company’s September quarter earnings, hit by muted advertisement revenue, disappointed the Street. The company reported a net profit of 370 crore, up 4% year-on-year, while revenue was at 800 crore, up 6%. Both revenue and profit missed consensus estimate.

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