Markets off day’s lows in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some their losses to off day’s lows in late afternoon session amid weak opening in European markets. Geographical tensions along with derivatives expiry due on Thursday, continued to weigh on the sentiments. Traders were cautious with Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian’s statement that Indian economy continues to face multiple challenges, he stressed on the need to tackle them on various fronts, such as exchange rate, public investments while maintaining macroeconomic stability. However, the indices managed to trim some of losses with taking support from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that despite ‘unsupportive’ global factors, the government has broadly put the economy on track. Meanwhile, the government has initiated an anti-dumping probe on imports of straight length bars and rods of alloy steel from China following complaints from the domestic industry. On the sectoral front, Information Technology shares paid no heed towards the report that the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is expecting the industry to deliver a strong performance in the next fiscal, on the back of revival of financial sector investments in tech spends along with demand uptick in the US.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as geopolitical worries persisted and investors pondered the economic outlook for China following S&P's downgrade of the country's sovereign rating last week. Investors are also awaiting speeches from top central bankers this week, with ECB President Mario Draghi addressing EU lawmakers in Brussels later today while Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is set to give a speech on Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio. Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Nucleus Software Exports traded jubilantly after the company launched semi-closed PPI wallet product under the brand name ‘PaySe’, which will be operated in a controlled environment, on September 22, 2017. The company shall be initiating steps towards making their systems compatible with UIDAI and CKYCR.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31596.34, down by 326.10 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 31474.56 and 32016.52. There were 4 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.28%, while Small cap index was down by 2.04%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.17%, Basic Materials down by 2.13%, Capital Goods down by 1.93%, Healthcare down by 1.75% and Industrials down by 1.73%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 0.95%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.76%, ICICI Bank up by 0.63% and Reliance Industries up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.41%, Tata Steel down by 2.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.35%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.33% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, keeping an optimistic and positive view about Indian IT industry performance in the near future, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is expecting the industry to deliver a strong performance in the next fiscal, on the back of revival of financial sector investments in tech spends along with demand uptick in the US.

Outlining the industry's annual guidance in June this year, Nasscom had said the Indian IT export would grow by 7-8 per cent this fiscal, the same as the previous year, while the domestic infotech industry would expand at 10-11 per cent during the period.

Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar, praising the re-strategising done by the Indian companies, said that this would also contribute the growth of IT sector. He also highlighted the company’s focus on re-skilling employees on new digital technologies to drive growth. However, Nasscom President expressed concerns over the issues like stricter work visa regulations in key markets like the US and the UK and an uncertain business environment.

Chandrasekhar detailed the government and industry body’s various initiatives to develop the IT sector, noting features of centres of excellence (COEs) which are platform to connect companies in the emerging areas, like finding mentors. He said the industry should not be worried about protectionism as the number of visas issued has not changed.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9853.05, down by 111.35 points or 1.12% after trading in a range of 9816.05 and 9960.50. There were 7 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Power up by 1.62%, Coal India up by 0.89%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.77%, Reliance Industries up by 0.56% and ICICI Bank up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.29%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 3.27%, ACC down by 3.02%, Ambuja Cement down by 3.02% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 380.19 points or 1.36% to 27,500.34, Taiwan Weighted decreased 113.79 points or 1.09% to 10,335.89, Jakarta Composite decreased 20.14 points or 0.34% to 5,891.57, Shanghai Composite decreased 10.98 points or 0.33% to 3,341.55, KOSPI Index decreased 8.31 points or 0.35% to 2,380.40 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.9 points or 0.11% to 1,769.14. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 101.13 points or 0.5% to 20,397.58.

European markets were trading mostly in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 14.52 points or 0.2% to 7,296.12 and France’s CAC decreased 1.4 points or 0.03% to 5,279.89. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX increased 30.09 points or 0.24% to 12,622.44.