Benchmarks trade on weak note; Sensex below 26500 mark

Indian equity benchmarks traded on weak note in late morning session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters. The sentiments were under pressure reacting to the report of widening trade deficit. India’s trade deficit widened to $13 billion in November from a provisional $10.16 billion last month, it’s the highest since $13.08 billion in July 2015, and sharply wider than the $10.41 billion gap in October. Though, for the third consecutive month, exports recorded a positive growth of 2.29 percent year-on-year to $20 billion, but imports grew at a faster pace of 10.4 percent to $33.02 billion. Some selling also crept in with industry body CII statement that India’s economic growth will see a ‘significant fall’ in the second half of the current fiscal on account of cash crunch following demonetisation. As far as corporate earnings are concerned, the consumer goods sector has seen sales drop by 20 percent in the last month. The street failed to draw any solace on report that India remains one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, with real GDP expanding at 7.3 percent in the four quarters through 2016, the White House said even as it underlined that inefficiencies remain in the public sector of the country with the poor population still lacking healthcare coverage and access to financial services.

Traders were seen piling up position in Consumer Durables, IT and Tech stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Oil & Gas and PSU sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Dilip Buildcon was trading in green on bagging an order worth Rs 260.10 crore in state of Andhra Pradesh. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India has declared Dilip Buildcon, Bhopal as the successful bidder (L-1) for the project rehabilitation and up-gradation of Machilipatnam to Avanigadda section.

On the global front, Asian shares were trading mostly in red, with dollar near a 14-year peak and bond yields highly elevated as global markets continued adjusting to the idea of higher US interest rates. Japan’s Nikkei climbed to a one-year high on a weaker yen and gains on Wall Street overnight. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading below the psychological 8,150 and 26,500 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1021:1016, while 119 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 26485.14, down by 33.93 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 26480.00 and 26594.55. There were 110 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.29%, while Small cap index was tad lower by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.44%, IT up by 0.39%, TECK up by 0.32% and Auto up by 0.25%, while Metal down by 1.09%, Oil & Gas down by 0.78%, PSU down by 0.63%, FMCG down by 0.52% and Power down by 0.45% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.27%, HDFC up by 1.19%, Infosys up by 0.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.80% and TCS up by 0.64%.

On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.20%, Sun Pharma down by 1.46%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone down by 1.42%, ICICI Bank down by 1.40% and ITC down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, extending the revival trend, India’s merchandise exports expanded for the third straight month, rising by 2.29 percent to $ 20009.58 million in November on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products and engineering goods, however, goods imports grew at a faster pace of 10.4 percent to $33020 million that led to country’s trade deficit ballooning to $ 13008.87 million in November- the highest since $13080 million in July 2015, and sharply wider than the $10410 million gap in October. The trade deficit for April-November, 2016-17 was estimated at $ 66178.82 million which was 25.28 percent lower than the deficit of $ 88574.09 million during April-November, 2015-16.

As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry exports valued at $ 20009.58 million grew by 2.29% in dollar terms as compared to $ 19560.92 million in same period last year and was up 4.63 per cent in Rupee terms at Rs 135316.19 crore against Rs 129331.11 crore during November,2015. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-November 2016-17 was $ 174922.78 million as against $ 174740.27 million, registering a positive growth of 0.10 per cent in Dollar terms and in rupee terms it stood at Rs 1171733.68 crore, up by 3.92 per cent over the same period last year of Rs 1127542.80 crore.

Non-petroleum exports in November 2016 showed an increase of 2.1 percent at $ 17602.33 million against $ 17232.25 million in November 2015. Non-petroleum exports during April - November 2016-17 increased by 1.8 percent at $ 155713.51 million as compared to $ 152923.93 million for the corresponding period in 2015.

Imports during November 2016 increased by 10.44 per cent in Dollar terms to $ 33018.45 million compared to imports of $ 29896.41 million, while in rupee term the gains was of 12.96 percent to Rs 223289.57 crore over the level of imports valued at Rs 197666.37 in November,2015. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-November 2016-17 was US$ 241101.60 million as against US$ 263314.36 million registering a negative growth of 8.44 per cent in Dollar terms and in rupee term at Rs 1615510.92 crore compared to Rs 1698957.27 crore, down by 4.91 per cent over the same period last year.

Oil imports during November, 2016 were valued at $ 6837.76 million which was 5.89 percent higher than oil imports valued at $ 6457.37 million in November 2015. Oil imports during April-November, 2016-17 were valued at $ 53276.41 million which was 13.51 per cent lower than the oil imports of $ 61596.76 million in the corresponding period last year.

Non-oil imports during November, 2016 were estimated at $ 26180.69 million which was 11.70 per cent higher than non-oil imports of $ 23439.04 million in November, 2015. Non-oil imports during April-November 2016-17 were valued at $ 187825.19 million which was 6.89 per cent lower than the level of such imports valued at $ 201717.60 million in April-November, 2015-16. Gold imports jumped 23.2 per cent in November to $4360 million.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8140.90, down by 12.70 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 8133.65 and 8178.70. There were 18 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.53%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.50%, HDFC up by 1.25%, Bank of Baroda up by 1.16% and Infosys up by 1.07%.
On the flip side, Aurobindo Pharma down by 3.74%, Hindalco down by 2.61%, ONGC down by 2.28%, Sun Pharma down by 1.85% and BHEL down by 1.72% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 20.85 points or 0.22% to 9,339.50, Jakarta Composite decreased 12.57 points or 0.24% to 5,241.79, Hang Seng decreased 9.69 points or 0.04% to 22,049.71, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.52 points or 0.22% to 1,633.47 and Shanghai Composite decreased 2.17 points or 0.07% to 3,115.51.

On the other hand, KOSPI Index increased 3.26 points or 0.16% to 2,039.91 and Nikkei 225 increased 142.11 points or 0.74% to 19,415.90.