Markets continue to trade under pressure; Telecom melt

Indian bourses continued their weak trade in the afternoon session following across the board selling amidst weakness in global peers. At present, both Sensex and Nifty were trading below the crucial 29,300 and 9,100 levels, respectively. Sentiments also remained dampened with government continuing the clampdown on cash transactions, proposing to further tighten payment norms by capping cash transactions at Rs 2 lakh. Some concern also came with Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal’s statement that it is not possible to assess the impact of note ban on India’s gross domestic product (GDP) as the economic development of a country depends on a number of factors including structural, external, fiscal and monetary factors. Moreover, a depreciating rupee against the dollar also weighed on the sentiment. Reversing its 2-day climb, the rupee fell 18 paise to 65.46 against the dollar in early trade on fresh demand for the American currency from importers. In scrip specific development, Nila Infrastructures was up by over four and half percent after entering into a two separate Letter of Acceptance (LoA) with Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) for development of Bus Terminal under Public Private Partnership.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red as investors fretted US President Donald Trump’s pro-growth policies could take longer than expected to come to fruition. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29264.78, down by 220.67 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 29219.59 and 29341.41. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.82%, while Small cap index was down by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was IT up by 0.05%, while Telecom down by 1.64%, Consumer Durables down by 1.62%, Metal down by 1.32%, Auto down by 1.28% and Basic Materials down by 1.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.28%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.82%, Cipla up by 0.46%, Power Grid up by 0.08% and Wipro up by 0.07%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.75%, Tata Motors down by 1.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.53%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.48% and HDFC down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to attract more investments into the infrastructure sector, the government think tank NITI Aayog will identify and prepare a list of ten big infrastructure projects across sectors which can be developed through the public private partnership (PPP) mode. The list would be prepared after taking into consideration the details of such big projects that would be provided by the states in the coming weeks.

NITI Aayog will select ten projects on priority basis and will provide its expertise in advising the states on developing infrastructure, mainly big projects. This will also help in streamlining the process and ensure timely completion of big projects. A list of big projects would help in extending all possible developmental support to the states concerned on a priority basis. The specific sectors where such projects can be pursued would be decided after collating information from the states.

In the Union Budget 2017-18, the government has allocated Rs 3.95 lakh crore for infrastructure development. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the magnitude of investment in the space is bound to spur growth. He also said that infrastructure is the thrust area of the government for efficiency, productivity and quality of life and approach was to spend more on infrastructure development.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9050.80, down by 70.70 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 9036.05 and 9072.90. There were 7 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 1.02%, HCL Tech. up by 1.01%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.83%, Cipla up by 0.48% and Sun Pharma up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.77%, BHEL down by 2.25%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.97%, Tata Motors down by 1.91% and Hindalco down by 1.89% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 414.5 points or 2.13% to 19,041.38, Hang Seng declined 345.02 points or 1.4% to 24,248.10, Taiwan Weighted fell 49.83 points or 0.5% to 9,922.66, Jakarta Composite was down by 30.43 points or 0.55% to 5,512.66, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 15.39 points or 0.88% to 1,739.28, Shanghai Composite decreased 14.79 points or 0.45% to 3,246.83 and KOSPI Index slipped 10.08 points or 0.46% to 2,168.30.