Sensex, Nifty remain sluggish; broader markets trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks remained sluggish in late afternoon session despite positive opening in European markets. Selling in Metal, PSU and Utilities stocks continued to weigh on the sentiments, along with concerns from Credit rating agency Care Ratings’ latest report that employment generation in the country has failed to keep pace with the gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in recent years. Traders overlooked SBI Research’s report which accessed that Indian economy is likely to improve to 6 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2017-18, as against 5.7 percent growth in the first quarter of FY18. Besides, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa statement that India’s fiscal deficit is on the path of recovery, with showing an ease of about 90 percent of the budget estimate for the full year at the end of September from the level of 96.1 percent at the end of August, too failed to provide support. However, broader indices managed to keep their head in green territory with BSE mid cap gained 0.09 percent and Small cap was trading up by 0.35 percent.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green as investors digested a fresh batch of corporate earnings. Asian markets were trading mostly in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Salasar Techno Engineering traded higher after the company received new order worth Rs 112 crore from Reliance Jio, which is one of the major telecom players in India. The order is to supply 1,715 telecom towers all over India. The order will be executed by March 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33223.38, down by 42.78 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 33174.99 and 33294.30. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.33%, Telecom up by 1.60%, Consumer Durables up by 0.60%, Bankex up by 0.27% and Oil & Gas up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 1.26%, PSU down by 0.54%, Utilities down by 0.52%, IT down by 0.51% and Auto down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 7.47%, ONGC up by 2.14%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.98%, HDFC up by 0.78% and TCS up by 0.73%. On the flip side, SBI down by 2.26%, Infosys down by 2.25%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.99%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.36% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, dismissing worries over fiscal deficit target, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa has said that India’s fiscal deficit is on the path of recovery, with showing an ease of about 90% of the budget estimate for the full year at the end of September from the level of 96.1% at the end of August.

Highlighting the difference in revenue and expenditure trends, Lavasa also said that there is no shortfall in revenue when it’s compared to last year. He added that the flow of revenue stream has a steady course and revenue earning departments cannot change it easily. On the expenditure front, he pointed that the acceleration in pace of expenditure is due to an early approval of the budget. He said the revenue stream will start catching up when the country will move towards achieving the balance.

Finance Secretary also expressed worries over the direct taxes and indirect taxes performance as he feels that they need to perform and added that that so far things are on course except for a little uncertainty on the goods and services tax. On expectations that revenue from spectrum auctions is likely to fall short of target, he said every year there are some anticipated income schemes that don’t materialise and something else will probably make up for that.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10344.05, down by 19.60 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 10323.95 and 10367.70. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 7.89%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.32%, HCL Tech. up by 2.30%, ONGC up by 2.17% and BPCL up by 0.95%. On the flip side, UPL down by 3.38%, Infosys down by 2.27%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.97%, SBI down by 1.92% and Hindalco down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 3.01 points or 0.09% to 3,393.34, KOSPI Index increased 21.5 points or 0.86% to 2,523.43, Jakarta Composite increased 33.16 points or 0.55% to 6,007.23 and Taiwan Weighted increased 36.93 points or 0.34% to 10,793.80. On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 90.65 points or 0.32% to 28,245.54, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.43 points or 0.02% to 1,747.92 and Nikkei 225 decreased 0.06 points or 0% to 22,011.61.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 2.14 points or 0.04% to 5,495.77 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 25.41 points or 0.34% to 7,513.22.