Weak trade persists, Sensex slips below 25800 level

Indian equity indices in the last hour of trade are hovering near the lowest point of the day, losing over a percent in absence of any positive trigger which could have lifted the markets higher, on prevailing caution ahead of the expiry of November equity derivatives on Thursday. Both the Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 25,800 and 7,950 levels respectively, as banking, automobile and metal stocks came under heavy selling pressure. Also, prevailing cash crunch following the government's demonetisation decision has severely impacted the market sentiments. The recent selling by the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) of Indian stocks weighed on sentiments. FPIs sold shares worth a net Rs 926.32 crore on Friday, 18 November 2016, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. FPIs were net sellers for the seventh straight session. On the global front, European markets were trading in green as the dollar continued its bull run on expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates faster than expected under Donald Trump's presidency.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 25765.74, down by 384.50 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 25733.62 and 26270.28. There were 3 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while 2 stocks remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 2.59%, while Small cap index was down by 2.87%.

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was IT up by 0.02%, while Realty down by 4.79%, Auto down by 3.23%, Bankex down by 3.17%, Metal down by 2.93% and PSU down by 2.39% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.16%, TCS up by 0.03% and Infosys up by 0.02%. On the flip side, SBI down by 4.79%, Tata Steel down by 3.92%, Tata Motors down by 3.82%, Adani Ports &Special down by 3.60% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a big disappointment, the momentum for the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) is likely to slow after the Centre and states failed to reach consensus on jurisdiction over assesses. The informal GST meeting of Union Finance Minister and his state counterparts called to break the political deadlock on sharing of administrative control under the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime, remained inconclusive, therefore discussion will continue on November 25 to work out the modalities. 

The important meeting which came ahead of the formal meeting of the all powerful GST Council on November 25, was held after the Centre and states were deadlocked over the issue at two previous meetings, including sharing of administrative control under the proposed GST regime so that a tax payer is not assessed by both the Centre and the relevant state, the so-called issue of dual control.

States like Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala insisted on exclusive control over small businesses, which earn less than Rs 1.5 crore in annual revenue, for both goods and services. They feel states have infrastructure deployment at grassroots level and small taxpayers are familiar with state authorities. On the other hand, the Centre is unagreeable to the demand as it wants single registration mechanism for ease to service taxpayers.

The government aims to roll out GST from April 1 next year, which will subsume excise, service tax and local levies. Both the Centre and states will further meet on November 21 and try to workout a solution ahead of the meeting of the GST Council on November 25. At the last meeting, the Council agreed on a four-slab structure - 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent along with a cess on luxury and ‘sin’ goods such as tobacco.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 7936.90, down by 137.20 points or 1.70% after trading in a range of 7929.85 and 8102.45. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 2.23%, Wipro up by 1.12%, Idea Cellular up by 0.98%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.72% and HCL Tech up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Bank of Baroda down by 7.94%, SBI down by 4.88%, Yes Bank down by 4.85%, Eicher Motors down by 4.75% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 4.73% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 1.12 points or 0.07% to 1,624.92, Hang Seng rose 13.57 points or 0.06% to 22,357.78, Shanghai Composite jumped 25.29 points or 0.79% to 3,218.15, Taiwan Weighted increased 32.32 points or 0.36% to 9,041.11 and Nikkei 225 was up by 138.61 points or 0.77% to 18,106.02. On other hand, Jakarta Composite decreased 34.63 points or 0.67% to 5,135.48 and KOSPI Index decreased 8.53 points or 0.43% to 1,966.05.

All the European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC rose 8.15 points or 0.18% to 4,512.50, Germany’s DAX increased 9.14 points or 0.09% to 10,673.70 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 17.37 points or 0.26% to 6,793.14.