Market View by Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager – Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund

After witnessing severe selling pressure during the week, benchmark indices opened the day in the green and traded with gains during the day. However, markets trimme
d gains in late afternoon trade to finally close the day near the flat line. Mixed macro data announced after trading hours yesterday left investors indecisive. While the trade deficit for October 2016, widened to USD 10.6Bn, compared to USD 8.34Bn in the previous month, inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) dipped to 4.2% in October, 2016 from a reading of 4.39% in September, 2016. On the sectoral front, the media, IT and auto indices on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded with sharp gains while the FMCG, healthcare and banking indices traded lower.