Nifty still below 7950, Sensex sluggish; Sun Pharma down 1%

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Nestle India: Nestle India said it has resumed production of Maggi noodles at all five facilities in India. Nestle, which relaunched Maggi noodles on November 9 after a five-months ban, has started production of Maggi noodles from its Tahliwal plant in Himachal Pradesh. Nestle manufacturers Maggi noodles at its plants in Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) Bicholim (Goa) and Tahliwal and Pantnagar in Himachal Pradesh.

"The company has resumed manufacturing of Maggi noodles at its Tahliwal (Himachal Pradesh) factory. With this, the company has resumed manufacture of Maggi noodles at all five noodle manufacturing facilities," Nestle said in a BSE filing. Last week, the Swiss food major had started production of Maggi noodles from its fourth plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

11:45 am FPI outflow: Foreign investors pulled out more than USD 1.5 billion from the country's capital markets this month due to lacklustre quarterly earnings and concerns over a possible rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. The sell-off came after Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) inflow in the capital markets (equity and debt) hit a seven-month high in October. As per the data compiled by the depositories, net outflow in equities stood at Rs 6,616 crore in November, while it was Rs 3,207 crore from debt, translating into a total of Rs 9,823 crore (USD 1.5 billion). 11:30 am FII view: Sakthi Siva, Credit Suisse says, "While expensive markets can stay overvalued, we highlight the 6-11 percent underperformance of MSCI India, MSCI Philippines & MSCI Japan from their highs about two months ago.

She believes there is more room for underperformance, as investors have been 'hiding' in India and the Philippines.

For India, she believes the catalysts are continued EPS misses, potential stabilisation in China macro and/or more China stimulus. "In India, with the return on equity (RoE) gap between cyclicals and defensives stabilising, we highlight staples and healthcare as the two most overvalued sectors coupled with EPS cuts," Siva says.

Impact of yuan inclusion to IMF reserve may be gradual: JPM 

The market is very sluggish ahead of Q2 gross domestic product data to be announced today. The Sensex is up 0.80 points at 26129.00 and the Nifty is down 7.20 points at 7935.50. About 1396 shares have advanced, 724 shares declined, and 156 shares are unchanged.

Maruti, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and L&T are top gainers while Sun Pharma, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and GAIL are major losers in the Sensex.

Crude oil prices rose in early Asian trade, although gains were limited as investors look ahead to an OPEC meeting where ministers from the oil producing group will set policy in the face of a market still in glut.

Oil prices are heading for declines of as much as 10 percent this month as optimistic assessments that the overhang in the market would ease have proved wrong.