Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks traded below neutral line throughout the day and ended with cut of around six-tenth of a percent. The equity benchmarks made a weak start in early deals as traders remained concerned over US President Donald Trump’s economic growth agenda. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries too dragged the indices lower. Along with Reliance Industries, a below normal monsoon forecast and global cues hit the Street’s performance. Reliance Industries (RIL) was under pressure after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday banned the company from accessing the equity derivatives market for a year and directed the company to disgorge the profits made by violating the rules on unfair trade practices when it sold a stake in its erstwhile unit Reliance Petroleum. Some selling also crept in on reports that the possibility of bad bank formation is unlikely. The government last week said it would speed up the process of resolving the bad loan or non-performing assets (NPA) issue that has been plaguing the banking sector for quite some time now. However, there have been no details on what the mechanism would be to resolve this issue. Separately, according to a private report Monsoon 2017 is likely to remain below normal at 95% (with an error margin of +/-5%) of the long period average (LPA) of 887 mm for the four-month period from June to September. The street failed to draw support after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced GST bills in the Lok Sabha. Jaitley introduced the Central GST, Integrated GST, Union Territory GST and the Compensation Law for passage by Parliament to implement the one-nation, one-tax regime. The government proposes to launch GST from July 1. It is estimated that rolling out of the GST can add up to 2 percent to India’s economic growth.

On the global front, Asian markets closed in red, after US President Donald Trump suffered a legislative defeat last Friday when Republican leaders pulled a bill to overhaul the US health care system. The Bank of Korea (BOK) survey showed that South Korean manufacturers are expected to spend more on capital investment this year than they did last year, although those expenditures will be conservative and mostly geared towards maintaining facilities than expansion. European markets were trading lower as investors adopted a cautious tone on the back of Trump’s surprise failure.

Back home, airline stocks like SpiceJet, Jet Airways and InterGlobe Aviation closed in green taking support from a report by Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) which highlighted that India has become the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic. India’s domestic air passenger traffic stood at 100 million in 2016 and was behind only the US (719 million) and China (436 million).

The BSE Sensex ended at 29243.68, down by 177.72 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 29163.54 and 29420.70. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.22%, while Small cap index was down by 0.04%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.26%, Power up by 0.12%, FMCG up by 0.07% and Utilities up by 0.01%, while Metal down by 2.70%, Energy down by 1.82%, Oil & Gas down by 1.13%, Basic Materials down by 0.85% and Healthcare down by 0.82% were the losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.08%, HDFC up by 1.02%, SBI up by 0.94%, ITC up by 0.53% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.47%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.21%, Reliance Industries down by 2.96%, Asian Paints down by 2.30%, Coal India down by 2.23% and Sun Pharma down by 1.82% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to boost the textile sector, the government is working on the much-awaited new National Textiles Policy, with an aim to achieve $300 billion textiles exports by 2024-25 and envisages creation of additional 35 million jobs. The policy will focus on a three-pronged approach to boost the growth of Indian handicraft sector, which is facing tough competition from international players.

The policy’s three pronged approach involves incentivising expansion of production base for quality manufacturing of handicraft products used for interior decoration and lifestyle purposes. It will focus on promoting premium handicraft products for the niche market along with preservation and protection of heritage and endangered crafts.

The textile ministry is also focusing on promoting premium handicraft products for the niche market along with preservation and protection of heritage and endangered crafts. To review and revamp the textile policy 2000, the ministry had set up an expert committee and it is currently engaged in consultation with stakeholders including states and working out the financial implications of the policy with its finance counterpart.

The CNX Nifty ended at 9052.30, down by 55.70 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 9024.65 and 9094.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 1.69%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.56%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.11%, Power Grid up by 1.06% and HDFC up by 0.98%. (Provisional)

On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 3.63%, Tata Steel down by 3.51%, Hindalco down by 3.44%, Reliance Industries down by 2.97% and HCL Tech down by 2.45% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 49.76 points or 0.68% to 7,287.06, Germany’s DAX decreased 90.97 points or 0.75% to 11,973.30 and France’s CAC decreased 18.15 points or 0.36% to 5,002.75.

Asian equity markets ended in red on Monday amid rising doubts over US President Donald Trump's ability to pass legislative reforms after Republican leaders pulled a bill to overhaul the US health care system. Japanese shares ended lower, wallowing at a six-week low and deepening last week's 1.3 percent loss, on pressure from a resurgent yen. Further, Chinese shares fell despite solid data from the National Bureau of Statistics showing that China's industrial profits grew sharply in the first two months of the year, driven by faster rise in prices of coal, steel and crude oil. Industrial profits surged an annual 31.5 percent in the January to February period, accelerating from a 2.3 percent gain in December.