Nifty still below 7900, Sensex sluggish; auto stocks gain

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Macro data: Inflation in India probably edged up in October as food prices climbed while weak demand is expected to have hurt factory output growth the month before, a Reuters poll found. India's price rises have been fairly muted this year, giving the Reserve Bank of India room to ease policy aggressively, amid wider concerns about a global slowdown.

Consumer prices are expected to have risen 4.82 percent in October from a year earlier, faster than September's 4.41 percent increase but still below the RBI's January 2016 target of 6 percent, leaving some room for further interest rate cuts.

11:45 am Market outlook: With distress around the globe continuing, Samvat 2072 hardly looks inspiring, says Shankar Sharma of First Global. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Sharma said India's journey from previous Samvat to this Samvat has not been glorious, despite high hopes. Analysing the disappointment, Sharma said it was injudicious to assume India will stand out post 2014 victory of the BJP when global economy was precariously perched. "It was a very simplified analysis in total disregard of the fragile economic story worldwide." Sharma said. Although Sharma acknowledges stability in India's macro situation, he questions its strength in driving corporate earnings going forward. Instead, he says the improved macros will aid smallcaps. Large corpoartes cannot revive significantly under the current growth scenario. Largecaps will need real GDP growth to propel them, he said while ruling out the possibility of 15-17 percent earnings growth in FY17.11:30 am Shares of Financial Technologies gained 7.5 percent intraday post divestment of its stake in Indian Energy Exchange (IEX). "The company has entered into share purchase agreement with SG BRIC III Trading, LLC to sell 1.61 percent stake in IEX for Rs 34.64 crore and to sell 3.02 percent stake to Siguler Guff NJMD Investment for Rs 64.99 crore," the company said in its filing. The above transactions are subject to fulfillment of certain condition precedents, while the company is in process of divesting balance 0.37 percent stake in IEX, it added.Don't miss: IndiGo owner InterGlobe lists at Rs 868, up 18% from issue price

The market is still slogging through to get into positive terrain. The Sensex is down 146.25 points or 0.6 percent at 25975.15 and the Nifty is down 57.10 points or 0.7 percent at 7858.10. About 1081 shares have advanced, 991 shares declined, and 73 shares are unchanged.

Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Maruti and Axis Bank are top gainers while ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, BHEL, Hindalco and GAIL are among losers in the Sensex.

Gold was mired near a three-month low on expectations the US Federal Reserve was well on track to raise interest rates before the end of the year.

A forecast-beating US October employment report on Friday pushed up bets that the Fed will increase interest rates in December for the first time in nearly a decade, weighing on the price of non-interest bearing gold.