Local bourses enter into red territory in noon deals

The local barometer gauges erased their all gains and started trading in red territory in early afternoon session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters despite a firm trend in Asian markets. Investors didn’t took any relief from Hasmukh Adhia’s statement that policymakers are considering steps to ease the compliance burden related to the goods and services tax (GST) on small businesses and to make product classification for taxation less complicated. Further, heavy selling that appeared in Healthcare, FMCG, Auto and Consumer Disc stocks also weighed on the sentiments. On the sectoral front, telecom stocks such as Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications surged after Reliance Industries (RIL's) Jio raised data tariffs recently, signalling more pricing discipline in the sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as the dollar spiked to more than three-month highs against the yen following a snap election in Japan on Sunday. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32332.94, down by 57.02 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 32314.72 and 32614.89. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.18%, while Small cap index was down by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.47%, TECK up by 0.92%, Energy up by 0.62%, IT up by 0.60% and Realty up by 0.59%, while Healthcare down by 0.81%, FMCG down by 0.69%, Auto down by 0.56%, Consumer Disc down by 0.40% and Industrials down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.27%, ICICI Bank up by 1.96%, Coal India up by 1.33%, Reliance Industries up by 1.17% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.78%, Cipla down by 2.61%, Lupin down by 1.99%, Axis Bank down by 1.87% and HDFC down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the government body responsible for execution of provident fund services, is likely to consider next month a proposal to credit subscribers’ share of its Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) investments to their provident fund accounts which may be redeemed at the time of withdrawal.

For this purpose, EPFO’s apex decision making body the Central Board of Trustee (CBT) headed by Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar will meet in November. The proposal which was one of the agendas discussed in an earlier CBT meeting might be brought up during the next month meet. The issue was referred to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). He added that the CAG had agreed to the proposal in principal but sought few clarifications.

As per estimates, EPFO’s investment in ETFs is expected to touch Rs 45,000 crore by the end of fiscal year 2018. EPFO had started investing in ETF in August 2015, putting 5 percent of its investible deposits in stock linked products. It was raised to 15 percent for the current fiscal. Once approved, the share of subscribers in the form of ETF units will be credited to their accounts.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10129.45, down by 17.10 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 10125.25 and 10224.15. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.24%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.22%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.03%, ICICI Bank up by 1.96% and HCL Tech. up by 1.57%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.82%, UPL down by 2.26%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.25%, Axis Bank down by 1.94% and Lupin down by 1.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI Index increased 0.51 points or 0.02% to 2,490.05, Shanghai Composite rose 2.5 points or 0.07% to 3,381.15, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3 points or 0.17% to 1,743.65, Taiwan Weighted surged 6.33 points or 0.06% to 10,735.21, Jakarta Composite added 30.1 points or 0.51% to 5,959.65 and Nikkei 225 increased 239.01 points or 1.11% to 21,696.65.

On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 152.21 points or 0.53% to 28,335.03.