Market cautious as F&O expiry nears; ITC falls 1%, ONGC gains

Moneycontrol Bureau11:50 am Auto sales hit? The sector that was likely hit the most due to demonetisation is automobiles. To throw more light on the outlook for the sector post the cash crunch CNBC-TV18 spoke to John K Paul, President, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

The year-on-year two-wheeler sales for the month of December are down 40 percent in urban areas and 50-60 percent in rural. Bookings for two-wheelers is down about 25-30 percent and that for cars are down 10-15, said Paul.

The luxury segment, CV segment and tractor sales have also been hit badly, said Paul.

11:30 am Market outlook: Sharing his market outlook for 2017, Hiren Ved, Director & CIO, Alchemy Capital Management says demonetisation has pushed the growth recovery by a couple of quarters and it is likely to pick up only in second half of CY17. The full impact of demonetisation will be seen in January and once the cash withdrawal limits are eased, normalcy will return to the market because consumption is a major part of the economy, says Ved. With talks of a farm loan waiver doing the rounds, Ved says farmers should not be encouraged not to pay back loans because it would be a bad practice. Instead, there are other tools to help farmers such as support prices, greater access to credit etc which is a better way to solve the crisis; waivers have a systemic risk to a country’s finances. Agriculture as a sector has a long-term potential in India, believes Ved. Government's hopes of doubling farm income by 2022 shows its intention is more strategic than tactical.

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Investors seem to be on edge as the Sensex is up 23.01 points at 26233.69. The Nifty is up 14.45 points or 0.2 percent at 8049.30. About 1404 shares have advanced, 674 shares declined, and 139 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, GAIL, TCS, HDFC and NTPC are top gainers while Adani Ports, ITC,Hero MotoCorp, L&T and Bajaj Auto are losers in the Sensex.

Gold prices rose 0.58 percent toRs 27,383 per 10 grams in futures trade  afterspeculators widened their bets, taking positive cues from global markets. Market analysts said rise in the precious metal in global markets, influenced gold prices at futures trade here. Meanwhile, gold climbed as much as 0.67 percent to USD 1,149.30 an ounce in Singapore today.