Indian bourses add losses; Nifty slips below 8800 mark

Indian bourses adding losses, continued to trade in red in the afternoon session, with the Sensex losing over 200 points and Nifty falling below the 8800 level, on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters amid weak global cues as investors’ attention turned from central banks to American politics ahead of the first US presidential debate. Investors failed to get any sense of relief with Reserve Bank of India’s Governor, Urjit Patel downplaying the risk of inflation and harping on the focus on growth. Patel reportedly said that the GST regime would not harden inflation and the growth objective will remain part of the newly constituted MPC's mandate. Traders were seen piling up positions in Metal, Oil & Gas and Power stocks, while selling was witnessed in Banking, FMCG, Auto, Realty and TECK sector stocks. In scrip specific development, ONGC dropped about a percent after its board approved signing of an agreement for taking a stake in Gujarat Petroleum's gas block.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red as investors' attention turned from central banks to American politics ahead of the first U.S. presidential debate. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28460.83, down by 207.39 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 28445.48 and 28630.92. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices too were trading marginally in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.45%, Oil & Gas up by 0.34% and Power up by 0.08%, while Bankex down by 1.14%, FMCG down by 0.87%, Auto down by 0.79%, Realty down by 0.71% and TECK down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.58%, Power Grid Corpn. up by 1.11%, Coal India up by 1.00%, Tata Steel up by 0.75% and TCS up by 0.61%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.28%, ICICI Bank down by 2.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.06%, Adani Ports & SPZ down by 1.71% and ITC down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, enthused by good response of the global investors, the government is planning to create three more sector specific sub-funds under the Rs 40,000-crore National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). These sector specific sub-funds will be including one each for the development of airports and ports and one more.

The government last week announced that it is in the process of setting up two sub-funds one in clean energy which will primarily focus on renewable energy, and another fund with focus on highway projects. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said that investors were more interested in investing in specific, dedicated, sectoral fund rather than all-purpose, multi-sector umbrella fund, he also said that the umbrella fund will continue, but at the same time we are also moving on so those who invest in dedicated funds will also take stake in the bigger fund. He added that accordingly the government had to restructure and recast the structure and begin with two sectorally dedicated funds namely highway sector and clean energy fund.

The government had set up the Rs 40,000-crore NIIF in December last year as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects. The Centre is to contribute Rs 20,000 crore to the fund and the remaining Rs 20,000 crore is expected to be raised through sovereign wealth funds.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8773.15, down by 58.40 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 8768.50 and 8809.55. There were 11 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries up by 1.65% and BPCL up by 1.36% and Tata Power up by 1.26% and Coal India up by 1.14% and Power Grid Corpn. up by 1.08%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.13%, ICICI Bank down by 2.60%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.91%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.60% and ITC down by 1.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 266.78 points or 1.13% to 23,419.70, Nikkei 225 declined 209.46 points or 1.25% to 16,544.56, Taiwan Weighted was down by 90.1 points or 0.97% to 9,194.52, Shanghai Composite decreased 37.53 points or 1.24% to 2,996.37, Jakarta Composite dropped 33.14 points or 0.62% to 5,355.77, KOSPI Index decreased 6.96 points or 0.34% to 2,047.11 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI slipped 2.03 points or 0.12% to 1,668.96.