Indian bourses continue to trade in negative terrain; IT drag

Indian bourses continued their weak trade in the afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The sentiments remained weak with the street raising concerns over the Centre’s future reform policies in view of anointment of hardliner Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister of the country’s most populous state. Besides, a mixed lead from global markets and a lack of fresh triggers from the domestic front also kept investors nervous. However, downside remained capped as some support came with the report that the Cabinet has approved four bills to implement a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST) bills, a government official said on Monday, paving the way for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement the landmark tax reform from July. In scrip specific development, NTPC was trading higher after recording highest ever annual cumulative gross power generation of 263.95 BU (billion unit) so far this fiscal surpassing the 262.42 BU achieved in the entire 2015-16.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the lackluster cues from Wall Street on Friday. News that the G20 finance ministers meeting in Germany during the weekend failed to agree on a commitment to keep global trade free dampened investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29520.59, down by 128.40 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 29482.40 and 29699.48. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.95%, Realty up by 0.58%, Healthcare up by 0.50%, Power up by 0.20% and PSU up by 0.17%, while IT down by 1.18%, TECK down by 1.09%, Telecom down by 0.85%, Metal down by 0.78% and Bankex down by 0.38% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 0.84%, Lupin up by 0.78%, HDFC Bank up by 0.74%, NTPC up by 0.69% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.38%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.15%, Infosys down by 1.94%, Tata Steel down by 1.64%, TCS down by 1.54% and Axis Bank down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to resolve the issue of bad loans, the government is mulling a proposal to shuffle the heads of some public sector lenders, including IDBI Bank. There is a proposal for exchanging of MD level position in banks which is being looked into. The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will take a final decision on this issue after careful consideration.

As per the Parliamentary Committee report, while IDBI Bank has been a pioneering institution in the financial sector of the country, it registered a net loss of Rs 3,664 crore in 2015-16 as compared to a net profit of Rs 873 crore in 2014-15. It also pointed out that the bank has also seen decline profits on a sequential basis, Rs 2,031 crore in 2011-12, to Rs 1,882 crore and Rs 1,121 crore in 2012-13 and 2013-14. It noted that the decline in profits of IDBI Bank could be attributed to rise in Gross Non-Performing Assets, loan write-offs as well as poor financial results. 

The report further suggested that the Finance Ministry should effectively coordinate with the IDBI Bank for formulating a Transformational Plan with a target of putting the stressed projects back on track. It also recommended that bringing down Gross NPAs to 3 per cent and Net NPAs to zero per cent by 2018-19, selling of non-core assets to fund the growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9128.05, down by 32.00 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 9116.30 and 9167.60. There were 24 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 1.91%, Tata Power up by 1.62%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.19%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.00% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 7.59%, ICICI Bank down by 2.10%, Infosys down by 1.99%, Tata Steel down by 1.76% and TCS down by 1.54% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite was down by 18.9 points or 0.34% to 5,521.54 and KOSPI Index slipped 7.57 points or 0.35% to 2,157.01. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 2.08 points or 0.06% to 3,239.53, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.74 points or 0.16% to 1,747.94 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 4.28 points or 0.04% to 9,912.97.