Bears tighten grip on markets; healthcare stocks hit most

Key Indian bourses continued to reel under pressure in late afternoon session, hovering near new intraday lows despite firm opening in European markets. Sentiments remained downbeat with the report that the collections under the Goods and Services Tax (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. Of the total collections, the share of Central GST (CGST) stood at Rs 14,402 crore, State GST (SGST) at Rs 21,067 crore and Integrated GST (IGST) at Rs 47,377 crore. Traders overlooked Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that the extra fiscal stimulus will help the economy do well and there is no harm in relaxing the fiscal deficit target to allow for more capital expenditure in order to lift the slowing Indian economy. In line with larger peers, the broader markets- Mid cap and Small cap too witnessed selling pressure by losing 1.32% and 1.49%, respectively, while only one - Consumer Durables - index was trading slightly in green on the BSE.

On the sectoral front, stock of pharma companies were trading lower as concerned flagged with rating agency India Ratings and Research’s latest report that weak economic and political conditions in Africa, currency volatility in Latin America and a weak recovery in CIS countries are likely to affect medium-term growth of Indian pharmaceutical exporters.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green amid some major corporate news and on growing expectations of another rate hike in the United States before year-end. However, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Heritage Foods gained after the company received an approval for purchasing assets including land, building & machinery situated at Sampanbole Village, Jaggamguda Gram Panchayat, Shamirpet Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, Telangana of Shah Motilal Foods for expansion of the Dairy Division by setting of own plant.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31255.47, down by 344.29 points or 1.09% after trading in a range of 31223.33 and 31797.46. There were 2 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.32%, while Small cap index was down by 1.49%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Consumer Durables up by 0.03%, while Healthcare down by 2.16%, Realty down by 1.74%, Metal down by 1.69%, Industrials down by 1.67% and Capital Goods down by 1.64% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.21% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.90%, Sun Pharma down by 3.16%, SBI down by 2.46%, Reliance Industries down by 2.35% and ICICI Bank down by 2.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, falling one place in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) latest Global Competitiveness Index, India has been ranked at 40th spot out of 137 countries surveyed, while Switzerland, the US and Singapore were ranked as the top three countries. Though, India has slipped from the 39th position to 40th, but WEF remained positive about India, saying that the country stabilises this year after its big leap forward of the previous two years. It also noted improvement across key competitiveness pillars like infrastructure, higher education & training and technological readiness.

The WEF’s report found improvement in ICT (information and communications technologies) indicators, particularly Internet bandwidth per user, mobile phone and broadband subscriptions, and Internet access in schools. The report added that the quality of institutions has increased further, especially in terms of efficiency of public spending, while noting concerns of private sector for doing business in India on the back of most problematic factor- corruption.

Among the BRICS, India came 3rd, below China and Russia. In South Asia, India has garnered the highest ranking, followed by Bhutan (85th rank), Sri Lanka (85), Nepal (88), Bangladesh (99) and Pakistan (115). On the list of 137 economies, other countries in the top 10 are the Netherlands (4), Germany (5), Hong Kong SAR (6), Sweden (7), United Kingdom (8), Japan (9) and Finland (10).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9759.10, down by 112.40 points or 1.14% after trading in a range of 9747.10 and 9921.05. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 1.25%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.11%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.69%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 0.35% and TCS up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.15%, Sun Pharma down by 3.23%, SBI down by 2.77%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.52% and Reliance Industries down by 2.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 63.14 points or 0.31% to 20,267.05, Jakarta Composite decreased 11.31 points or 0.19% to 5,852.66, KOSPI Index decreased 1.75 points or 0.07% to 2,372.57 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.2 points or 0.01% to 1,765.39. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 1.69 points or 0.05% to 3,345.27, Taiwan Weighted increased 69.66 points or 0.68% to 10,326.68 and Hang Seng increased 129.42 points or 0.47% to 27,642.43.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 8.24 points or 0.16% to 5,277.00, UK’s FTSE 100 rose 17.96 points or 0.25% to 7,303.70 and Germany’s DAX was up by 61.6 points or 0.49% to 12,666.80.