Benchmarks continue to trade lower in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trend in afternoon session, following fresh bouts of selling in Consumer Durables, Power, Auto and FMCG sectors amid weak Asian cues. Traders were taking cautious bet with the two-day policy review by RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) starting today. Investors failed to get any sense of relief with the report that India has surpassed China to secure the top position among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business.  In scrip specific development, Cadila Healthcare was up by over two percent after receiving an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its formulations manufacturing facility at Baddi.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, following a drop on Wall Street, as investors looked ahead to elections in the U.K. and a European Central Bank meeting. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31229.15, down by 80.34 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 31229.15 and 31430.32. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.52%, while Small cap index was down by 0.54%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.67%, TECK up by 1.91% and Oil & Gas up by 0.01%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.06%, Power down by 1.28%, Auto down by 1.24%, FMCG down by 1.22% and Industrials down by 1.16% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.61%, Infosys up by 2.30%, Wipro up by 1.51%, HDFC up by 0.56% and GAIL India up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.36%, ITC down by 2.06%, ONGC down by 1.74%, NTPC down by 1.45% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, denying any downturn in Indian information technology (IT) sector, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the industry will create good number of jobs in the financial year 2018. The minister's statement comes against the backdrop of media reports that Indian IT firms were in the midst of the industry's largest retrenchment drive due to US President Donald Trump's protectionist policies.

Noting that domestic IT sector worth Rs 9 lakh crore today employs about 40 lakh people directly and 1.4 crore indirectly, the IT minister has said that the recruitments in major firms, including TCS and Infosys, is expected to rise sharply in this fiscal year. He also explained that the export of Indian IT companies outside is close to Rs 7.4 lakh crore and the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) helping entrepreneurs to export (services) worth about Rs 3.5 lakh crore.

Prasad also said that 6 lakh jobs have been added by the Indian IT companies over the past 3 years of the Narendra Modi-led government. He claimed that retrenchment of 100-200 people had happened in the sector on performance ground. The minister added that the Indian digital economy was going to become $1 trillion in the coming 5 to 7 years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9654.60, down by 20.50 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 9652.55 and 9709.30. There were 13 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 4.45%, TCS up by 3.48%, Infosys up by 2.61%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.89% and Wipro up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.43%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.07%, Indiabulls Housing down by 2.49%, ITC down by 2.03% and ONGC down by 1.88% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 190.92 points or 0.95% to 19,979.90, Taiwan Weighted shed 20.66 points or 0.2% to 10,206.18, Jakarta Composite was down by 17.26 points or 0.3% to 5,730.97 and Shanghai Composite declined 1.88 points or 0.06% to 3,089.78.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 0.51 points or 0.03% to 1,788.46 and Hang Seng was up by 65.5 points or 0.25% to 25,928.49.