Weak trade persists on D- Street; Nifty holds 9,800 mark

Continuing their weak trade, Indian equity benchmarks remained in negative territory in late morning session. The Nifty was holding its crucial level of 9,800, while Metal, Capital Goods and pharma stocks remained under pressure. Traders were concerned with the report stating that the collections under the GST in August slowed down by 3.6 percent to Rs 90,669 crore, than the revised mop-up of Rs 94,063 crore in July.  Some anxiety also spread among the investors as India has been ranked as the 40th most competitive economy -- slipping one place from last year's ranking -- on the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness index, which is topped by Switzerland. However, the markets managed to recover from the low points of the day taking support from Asian Development Bank’s statement that there is some scope for further rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the latter part of financial year 2018. Besides, buying witnessed at Realty, Telecom and Consumer Durables counters, too provided some support to pull the major indices from their lower levels.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after comments by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, boosted expectations of an interest rate hike in December. The market perceived Yellen's comments to be hawkish. Investors were also cautious as they await details of US President Donald Trump's tax reform plans, expected to be unveiled later in the day. Back home, in scrip specific development, Manali Petrochemical jumped higher after getting its board’s approval to raise $50 million through issue of further securities in the domestic or overseas markets by way equity shares/Global Depository Receipts/American Depository Receipts/Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds/ Convertible Debt instruments, etc. in one or more tranches.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31458.87, down by 140.89 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 31396.50 and 31797.46. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.78%, Telecom up by 0.48%, Consumer Durables up by 0.48%, Utilities up by 0.18% and IT up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 1.27%, Healthcare down by 1.23%, Bankex down by 0.64%, Capital Goods down by 0.47% and Industrials down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.93%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.64%, ITC up by 0.53%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.30% and ONGC up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.04%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.10%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.02%, ICICI Bank down by 1.59% and Coal India down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in view of sluggish economic activities, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that there is some scope for further rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the latter part of financial year 2018. Though, it also said that fiscal stimulus is less likely with the government having exhausted 92.4 percent of the full fiscal year deficit to cover slippage in non-tax revenue due to slow progress in achieving disinvestment targets.

In its 'Asian Development Outlook 2017 Update', the Manila-based multilateral lending agency slashed its forecast for India’s GDP growth for the current fiscal to 7 percent from 7.4 percent, due to weakness in private consumption, manufacturing output and business investment. Though, it expects that India's inflation to average 4 percent in 2017-18, significantly lower than the April forecast. The report observed that higher global food and fuel prices and improved aggregate demand are likely to push inflation to 4.6 percent in 2018-19, though still below the earlier forecast. It also pointed out that as government efforts to resolve banks’ NPA, yield results and corporations continue to deleverage, credit flow to industry and services is expected to increase.

The multilateral lender however said India continues its strong showing although demonetisation and implementation of the new goods and services tax regime have dented consumer spending and business investment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9835.00, down by 36.50 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 9804.80 and 9921.05. There were 19 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ambuja Cement up by 2.45%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.09%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.75%, GAIL India up by 1.32% and Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.90%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.21%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.16%, ICICI Bank down by 1.56% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite increased 3.18 points or 0.09% to 3,346.76, Taiwan Weighted increased 69.66 points or 0.68% to 10,326.68 and Hang Seng increased 106.94 points or 0.39% to 27,619.95.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 66.28 points or 0.33% to 20,263.91, Jakarta Composite decreased 4.03 points or 0.07% to 5,859.93, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 2.14 points or 0.12% to 1,763.45 and KOSPI Index decreased 0.65 points or 0.03% to 2,373.67.