Markets enlarge losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets enlarged losses and were hovering near the lowest point of the day in the late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters amid weak European cues. Weakness in Indian rupee too weighed on the sentiment. Investors remained cautious ahead of the first US presidential debate later in day, as well as an upcoming informal meeting of OPEC producers. Investor also failed to get any sense of relief with Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya has expressed his confidence that good monsoon, policy reforms and timely decision making at Centre will definitely push India’s growth beyond 8% mark in subsequent quarters of this fiscal. On global front, European stocks were trading in red, as market attention turned from central bank meetings to US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, will take place early on Tuesday in Asian time zones. The first of three debates ahead of the November election could set US television audience records.

Back home, Most of the sectoral indices were trading in negative territory with Realty was down by over one and half percent. Selling was broad based with both mid cap and small cap indices were trading with a cut of around half a percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28317.96, down by 350.26 points or 1.22% after trading in a range of 28309.08 and 28630.92. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.62%, while Small cap index was down by 0.57%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Oil & Gas up by 0.01%, while Realty down by 1.82%, Bankex down by 1.52%, Auto down by 1.46%, FMCG down by 1.44% and Capital Goods down by 1.14% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.34%, Coal India up by 0.68%, TCS up by 0.40%, Lupin up by 0.10% and Power Grid up by 0.06%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.26%, ICICI Bank down by 2.87%, Tata Motors down by 2.72%, NTPC down by 2.61% and Hindustan Unilever down by 2.44% 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 8728.35, down by 103.20 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 8723.35 and 8809.55. There were 6 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.50%, Reliance Industries up by 1.38%, Coal India up by 0.79%, Zee Entertainment up by 0.73% and TCS up by 0.41%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.55%, ICICI Bank down by 2.91%, Tata Motors down by 2.79%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.48% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.35% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 368.56 points or 1.56% to 23,317.92, Nikkei 225 dropped 209.46 points or 1.25% to 16,544.56, Taiwan Weighted slipped 90.1 points or 0.97% to 9,194.52, Shanghai Composite slumped 53.47 points or 1.76% to 2,980.43, Jakarta Composite decreased 49.43 points or 0.92% to 5,339.48, KOSPI Index decreased 6.96 points or 0.34% to 2,047.11 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 4.56 points or 0.27% to 1,666.43.

European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 173.1 points or 1.63% to 10,453.87, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 85.94 points or 1.24% to 6,823.49 and France’s CAC dropped 83.21 points or 1.85% to 4,405.48.