Markets turn volatile in early deals on increasing border tension

Bout of volatility witnessed in early deals on Dalal Street and domestic bourses were trading slightly in red on Friday, as traders remained anxious on increasing border tension. Sentiment also remained dampened with a report from Labour Bureau stating that unemployment rate in India has shot up to a five-year high of 5 percent in 2015-16, with the figure significantly higher at 8.7 percent for women as compared to 4.3 percent for men. However, losses remained capped with the report that Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to invest 10% of its annual incremental deposits or an estimated Rs 13,000 crore in the current fiscal in equity exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Global cues remained sluggish with most of the Asian counters were trading in red at this point of time tailing the fall in US markets and traders moving out of riskier assets to haven assets. The US markets suffered sharp drop in last session after there was steep drop by shares of Deutsche Bank, which fell sharply on reports that several hedge funds have withdrawn excess cash and positions held at the lender.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27793.59, down by 33.94 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 27716.78 and 27904.04. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.45%, Oil & Gas up by 0.94%, PSU up by 0.65%, IT up by 0.51% and Power up by 0.42%, while Telecom down by 0.66%, Capital Goods down by 0.27%, FMCG down by 0.18%, Consumer Durables down by 0.09% and Bankex down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were GAIL India up by 1.75%, Infosys up by 1.08%, Wipro up by 0.97%, SBI up by 0.87% and ONGC up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.51%, Cipla down by 2.32%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.55%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.12% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate in India surged to a five-year high of 5 per cent in 2015-16. According to the fifth annual employment-unemployment survey at all-India level by Labour Bureau, about 77 per cent of the households were having no regular wage/salaried person.

While the unemployment rate was estimated to be 5 percent at all-India level under the UPS (Usual Principal Status) approach, the overall unemployment was significantly higher at 8.7 per cent for women and stood at 4.0 per cent for men. As per the report, in rural sector, unemployment rate was 5.1 per cent whereas in urban sector, the rate was 4.9 per cent. In urban areas, female unemployment rate was estimated to be 12.1 per cent at pan-India level compared to 3.3 per cent for males and 10.3 per cent for transgender. On other hand, in rural areas, female unemployment rate was estimated to be 7.8 per cent at pan-India level compared to 4.2 per cent for males and 2.1 per cent for transgender.

The survey which was conducted across all states and union territories during April 2015 to December 2015, collected a total sample of 1,56,563 households, with 88,783 households in the rural sector and 67,780 in the urban sector.

Among the states and union territories Tripura topped the chart at 19.7 per cent, followed by Sikkim at 18.1 per cent, Lakshadweep at 16.1 per cent, Andaman & Nicobar islands at 12.7 per cent, Kerala at 12.5 per cent and Himachal Pradesh at 10.6 per cent. The report showed that about 24 percent households benefitted from employment generating schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) etc. Only three North Eastern States, namely Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram have more than 70 percent of the households benefited from MGNREGA.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8583.65, down by 7.60 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 8555.20 and 8617.65. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 2.02%, GAIL India up by 1.68%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.39%, ONGC up by 1.36% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &Special down by 2.39%, Cipla down by 2.38%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.94%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.73% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 301.4 points or 1.27% to 23,438.07, Nikkei 225 dropped 215.63 points or 1.29% to 16,478.08, Taiwan Weighted decreased 82.05 points or 0.89% to 9,188.85, KOSPI Index shed 18.27 points or 0.88% to 2,050.45, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI dipped 4.86 points or 0.29% to 1,664.78 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.26 points or 0.06% to 5,428.70. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 4.33 points or 0.14% to 3,002.81.