Benchmarks continue lackluster trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in late afternoon session due to profit-booking in metal, oil & gas and PSU stocks. Traders remained cautious after report that International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India's growth forecast for the current fiscal by one percentage point, due to the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative. In an update of its flagship publication the World Economic Outlook, the IMF said India is likely to grow by 6.6 per cent only in FY17, down from 7.6 per cent estimated earlier and marginally behind China that is pegged to grow at 6.7 per cent in 2016.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as investors waited to hear from the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on her Brexit plans. Asian Markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Pokarna was trading in green after the company’s wholly owned subsidiary Pokarna Engineered Stone (PESL) secured exclusive right to use Bretonstone technology in India through March 2020. Duke Offshore was trading in green after bagging contract for its high speed crew boat ‘Duke Command’.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27205.43, down by 82.74 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 27179.19 and 27381.43. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.81%, IT up by 0.41%, Capital Goods up by 0.25%, TECK up by 0.24% and Realty up by 0.22%, while Metal down by 1.43%, Oil & Gas down by 1.33%, PSU down by 0.54%, Power down by 0.33% and Bankex down by 0.11% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.96%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.57%, Axis Bank up by 1.51%, Sun Pharma up by 0.86% and ITC up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.12%, Adani Ports & Special economic zone down by 2.00%, Coal India down by 1.90%, ONGC down by 1.87% and Power Grid down by 1.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, days after World Bank slashed India's growth estimates, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which so far had maintained that India is a bright spot against the gloomy global economic outlook, too has cut India’s economic growth estimate for 2016-17 to 6.6% from its earlier projection of 7.6%, due to the impact of the government's move of demonetization of high value currency notes in early November.

The IMF in its ‘World Economic Outlook update’ stated that India’s growth forecast for the current (2016-17) and next fiscal year were trimmed by one percentage point and 0.4 percentage point, respectively, primarily due to temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative. IMF expects the economy to recover and grow by 7.2% in 2017-18, still slower than the previous estimate of 7.6%. In 2018-19, it expects the Indian economy to grow by 7.7%.

The IMF revised upwards China's estimate based on expectations of a stimulus. Near-term growth prospects were revised up for China, due to expected policy stimulus, but were revised down for a number of other large economies. China is projected to grow by 6.5% in 2017 and 6% in 2018, slower than India's growth in both years.

Earlier, the World Bank had lowered the India's GDP growth estimate for this fiscal to 7 percent, from its earlier estimate of 7.6 percent made in June last year, saying that immediate withdrawal of a large volume of currency in circulation and subsequent replacement with new notes announced by the government in November contributed to slowing growth in 2016.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8389.85, down by 22.95 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 8378.30 and 8440.90. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.90%, Axis Bank up by 1.52%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.51%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.15% and HCL Tech up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.01%, Adani Ports & Special economic zone down by 2.25%, ONGC down by 2.12%, Coal India down by 2.02% and Power Grid down by 1.63% were the top losers.

Asian Markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.08 points or 0.31% to 1,663.92, Shanghai Composite increased 5.35 points or 0.17% to 3,108.78, Jakarta Composite increased 5.4 points or 0.1% to 5,275.41, KOSPI Index increased 7.7 points or 0.37% to 2,071.87, Taiwan Weighted increased 62.2 points or 0.67% to 9,354.53 and Hang Seng increased 122.82 points or 0.54% to 22,840.97. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 281.71 points or 1.48% to 18,813.53.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 59.81 points or 0.52% to 11,494.90, France’s CAC decreased 26.12 points or 0.54% to 4,856.06 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 24.46 points or 0.33% to 7,302.67.