Bourses continue to remain in red amid sluggish trade

After approaching their fresh record highs in the early deals, markets have given up their gains and are trading with cut of around a quarter percent. The mixed trend in the Asian peers after a lower closing of the US markets has turned the sentiments cautious; also, the domestic traders are opting to remain on sideline ahead of the release of a new series of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) later in the day. Government is launching new series in a bid to map economic activity more accurately. Also, there was some profit taking in the high fliers of the recent rally that once led Nifty slip below the crucial level of 9400, but despite the rallies losing fizz, downside remains capped and amid profit taking, selective buying too is being witnessed. On the sectoral front, while the IT and metal were supporting the markets, the healthcare and telecom were dragging them lower, restricting any recovery chances. The broader markets too were reeling in red, down by around half a percent.

There is some buzz in the gold and jewellary stocks on report that the Centre and the states may settle for 4% goods and services tax (GST) on bullion and opt for a special rate for financial services, amid intense lobbying from the two sectors in the run up to the rollout from July.

In scrip specific action, IT bellwether Infosys was up by over a percent. The company has delayed salary increases to at least July and even later for senior employees, though it played down fears of job cuts and started taking steps to reduce operating costs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 30202.72, down by 48.26 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 30152.23 and 30299.74. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.51%, while Small cap index lost 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.73%, Metal up by 0.58%, TECK up by 0.35%, Capital Goods up by 0.20%, Power up by 0.16%, while Healthcare down by 1.02%, Telecom down by 0.58%, Consumer Disc down by 0.52%, Bankex down by 0.37%, Consumer Durables down by 0.36% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.43%, Coal India up by 1.15%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.05%, Cipla up by 0.99% and ONGC up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.77%, ICICI Bank down by 1.56%, GAIL India down by 1.46%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.20% and Axis Bank down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, driven by rising growth in requirement of priority sector qualifying assets, especially by the foreign banks, loan securitisation volumes rose 34 per cent to touch a peak of Rs 90,000 crore in FY17, the highest volume seen for a single year in India. According to the credit rating agency- ICRA, the securitisation posted a strong growth for the second consecutive year and the pace of growth may continue in FY18 too.

The report further said that securitisation of loan assets by issuing pass through certificates (PTCs) transactions rose 72 per cent to Rs. 43,000 crore in FY17. There was some increase in securitisation of non-priority sector assets too and Direct Assignment (DA) transactions grew by 12 per cent to Rs. 47,000 crore during the fiscal. ICRA also noted that transactions banked by trade receivables are also picking up, and were worth Rs 1200 crore in FY17.

The agency further noted that the PTC market has grown on the back of regulatory developments such as the revised priority sector lending (PSL) guidelines from the central bank, which decreed lenders to achieve various sub-targets within the overall PSL and also progressively increased the PSL target for foreign banks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9402.65, down by 19.75 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 9384.05 and 9437.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 1.48%, Coal India up by 1.39%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.28%, ONGC up by 1.17% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.64%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.18%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.08%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.78% and ICICI Bank down by 1.55% were the top losers.

The Asian markets are showing mixed trend, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.12 points or 0.06% to 1,776.5, Shanghai Composite gained 11.99 points or 0.39% to 3,073.49, Hang Seng was higher by 19.02 points or 0.08% to 25,144.57 and Jakarta Composite added 26.39 points or 0.47% to 5,679.39.

On the other hand, Nikkei 225 declined by 114.13 points or 0.57% to 19,847.42, Taiwan Weighted was lower by 27.49 points or 0.27% to 9,973.99 and KOSPI Index decreased by 9.8 points or 0.43% to 2,286.57.