Markets make gap-down opening on weak global cues

Pressurized by feeble global cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-down opening and are witnessing blood bath in early deals. Sentiments remained dampened, as market-men worldwide developed cold feet that the next move to be made by the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of the Indian Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data to be released today after the market hours. Market men also eyeing the buzz in political circle that finance ministry will shortly move a cabinet note on a multidimensional recast of the budget. The proposal involves merging the rail budget with the general budget and advancing its presentation in Parliament to January from February end.

Weak global cues mainly played spoil sport for domestic markets with all the Asian counters trading in red at this point of time, led by slump in commodities stock with questions being raised on benefits of loose monetary policy. The US markets declined in last session, with S&P posting its worst day since June as investors nervousness increased following a nuclear test by North Korea and comments by Federal Reserve officials that lifted rate hike bets.

Back home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE, barring IT, were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include realty, banking and auto. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 360 shares on the gaining side against 1,574 shares on the losing side while 68 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28403.42, down by 393.83 points or 1.37% after trading in a range of 28251.31 and 28481.11. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.83%, while Small cap index was down by 1.54%.

The lone gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was IT up by 0.30%, while Realty down by 2.62%, Bankex down by 2.26%, Auto down by 2.16%, Finance down by 2.04% and Capital Goods down by 1.92% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.14% and Wipro up by 0.09%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.16%, ICICI Bank down by 3.16%, Tata Steel down by 3.09%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.00% and Adani Ports &Special down by 2.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government is taking growth of technical textiles on priority basis and expecting the industry to grow at a rate of 20 per cent with the market size of the sector reach Rs 1.58-lakh crore in current fiscal. The government is providing financial support for growth of the industry and has announced 15 per cent capital subsidy for investments in technical textiles under the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme.

Technical textiles are an important part of the textile industry and its potential is still largely untapped in India.  Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta has said that India has been growing at a steady pace in the sector with perceptible signs of expansion being observed in a few specialised segments. She further stated that the sector spends around 10-11 per cent on R&D at present and hopes to double the same in coming years.

The global technical textiles market is expected to reach $ 193.16 billion by 2022. Growth of key end-use industries such as agriculture, construction, packaging and automotive in BRICS nations is expected to remain a key driving factor for global technical textiles market. Technical textiles offers several advantages in their functional aspects for improving health and safety, cost effectiveness, and durability and strength of textile material and growing industrialisation, increasing access to medical care and huge infrastructure spending is expected to drive growth in the sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8734.15, down by 132.55 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 8699.40 and 8746.95. There were 3 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 1.23%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.71% and Wipro up by 0.07%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.39%, Hindalco down by 3.78%, ICICI Bank down by 3.19%, Tata Steel down by 3.17% and Axis Bank down by 3.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading deep into the red; Hang Seng tumbled 680.33 points or 2.82% to 23,419.37, Nikkei 225 declined 353.72 points or 2.08% to 16,612.04, Jakarta Composite fell 89.16 points or 1.66% to 5,281.92, Taiwan Weighted decreased 81.6 points or 0.9% to 8,972.09, Shanghai Composite dropped 63.73 points or 2.07% to 3,015.13, KOSPI Index shed 40.58 points or 1.99% to 1,997.29 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.94 points or 0.29% to 1,686.44.