Benchmarks witness massacre in early deals; Sensex breaches 26,500 mark

Indian equity benchmarks have made a gap-down start and are witnessing blood-bath in early deals, with frontline gauges breaching their crucial 26,500 (Sensex) and 8,200 (Nifty) levels. Traders remained concerned with the Congress hardening its position ahead of the winter session of Parliament on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, saying it is opposed to the four-slab tax structure in which the top limit is 28 per cent. Meanwhile, the CBEC Chairman Najib Shah has said that the Centre will share the draft model GST law with the states as it prepares for the rollout of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 next year. Traders also remained on sidelines ahead of CPI and WPI data to be announced today. WPI eased to 3.57% in September after a drop in food prices. CPI was at 4.31% in September.

On the global front, most of the Asian counters were trading mostly in green at this point of time. However, Chinese market was trading with a cut of around one third of a percent after China's industrial production and retail sales grew less-than-expected in October, while fixed asset investment growth improved slightly. U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday after the Dow Jones industrial average hit a new all-time high, as investors evaluated the prospects of economic growth following Donald Trump's presidential election win.

Back home, selling was both brutal and wide-based as none of sectoral indices on BSE, barring banking, were spared. Counters, which featured in the list of worst performers, include Consumer Durables, Auto and Realty. The broader indices too were reeling under pressure, while the market breadth on the BSE was negative; there were 272 shares on the gaining side against 1,855 shares on the losing side while 72 shares remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26481.37, down by 337.45 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 26426.36 and 26809.61. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 3.18%, while Small cap index was down by 3.81%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Bankex up by 0.05%, while Consumer Durables down by 5.04%, Auto down by 4.89%, Realty down by 3.97%, Industrial down by 3.62% and Basic Materials down by 3.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.02%, ONGC up by 2.16%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.61%, Power Grid up by 1.47% and Sun Pharma up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 7.82%, Tata Motors down by 7.39%, Maruti Suzuki down by 5.03%, HDFC down by 4.44% and Bajaj Auto down by 4.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, bringing hope to exporters who are battling depressed demand globally, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reiterated that there is definitely prospect for the exporters, who are struggling in depressed demand globally, as India’s export for the month of September has shown very significant development. After 2 months fall, export rose by 4.62 percent to $22.9 billion in September backed by higher growth in engineering and gems & jewellery sectors.

On foreign direct investment (FDI), she said that during the first half of 2016-17, FDI into the country has increased over 30 percent to $21.62 billion, on account of government’s policies, reinforcing India’s image of a ‘shining star’. She added that India has clearly sustained its image in the last 2.5 years as a shining star, is performing and showing the growth which is required and actually proving as an the engine of the global growth itself.

Sitharaman further said that the flow of capital into the country has improved because of the policies of the government, very clear and policy driven, not discretion driven policy of the government. She also said that there will be a lot of successful economic activity during the India International Trade Fair (IITF), which is being held from November 14 to November 27.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8177.80, down by 118.50 points or 1.43% after trading in a range of 8167.30 and 8288.55. There were 14 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 8.50%, SBI up by 3.15%, Hindalco up by 2.55%, ONGC up by 2.14% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 8.41%, Grasim Industries down by 7.57%, Tata Motors down by 7.39%, Asian Paints down by 7.26% and Eicher Motors down by 6.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index gained 0.53 points or 0.03% to 1,974.93, Nikkei 225 rose 1.85 points or 0.01% to 17,674.47, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI surged 14.39 points or 0.89% to 1,631.03, Taiwan Weighted advanced 29.88 points or 0.33% to 8,970.28, Jakarta Composite added 46.04 points or 0.9% to 5,161.78 and Hang Seng was up by 92.4 points or 0.42% to 22,314.62. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 8.63 points or 0.27% to 3,201.74.