Benchmarks trade marginally in red following weak Asian markets

Pressurized by feeble regional cues, Indian equity benchmarks have made a cautious start and are trading slightly in red in early deals on Monday. Traders remained on sidelines ahead of GST Council meeting, slated later during the week which is expected to consider lowering of the 28 percent GST rate on certain common use items. However, losses remained capped, as some solace came with report that government could consider a proposal to stagger deadlines for filing of monthly returns under the Goods and Services Tax for small and large firms. The move would ensure that the rush towards the last few days gets partly dissipated and leads to lower burden on the IT systems as well that often leads to large delays in uploading of returns and invoices.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after China’s central bank chief warned again about excessive leverage, however, the Japanese market was marginally in green as the yen tumbled to the weakest since March after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said it’s crucial for inflation to exceed the 2 percent target. The US markets extended their gains in the last session with major averages ending at record highs.

Back home, food processing and related stocks remained buzzing, as the Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal has said that the categorisation of the food processing sector for bank credit should be reviewed as it could in turn help double farmers’ income. Meanwhile, shares of Reliance Nippon Asset Management Company (AMC) have made a decent debut and are trading with a gain of around 14% in early deals. The IPO got tremendous response and was oversubscribed by 81.54 times.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33590.83, down by 94.73 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 33587.13 and 33710.15. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 6.87%, Consumer Disc up by 0.57%, FMCG up by 0.46%, Auto up by 0.07% and Realty was up by 0.03%, while Metal down by 1.06%, Energy down by 0.82%, Oil & Gas down by 0.62%, Telecom down by 0.53% and Utilities was down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43%, ONGC up by 1.38%, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 1.08%, Coal India up by 0.58% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.74%, Reliance Industries down by 1.37%, Tata Steel down by 1.09%, Sun Pharma down by 1.08% and Asian Paints down by 1.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister for Railways and Coal Piyush Goyal batting for the food processing sector has said that a quantum jump in the size and growth of food processing sector is needed, which would be in sync with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of doubling farmer's income by 2022. At the World Food India (WFI), he said that “The time has come that food processing goes to the farmers and actively engages with the farmer and takes technology to them.”

Goyal said that India should aim to scale up its food processing sector by over 10 times in the next five years in sync with the vision of doubling farmer's income. He added that price stability across various food products can be ensured throughout the year in India by innovative solutions around transportation and storage.

The minister laid emphasis on the financing aspect saying that a holistic approach is needed where the farmers are provided capital and insurance as well as technological know-how. He further said that easier bank credit to the food processing industry could in turn lead to better livelihood to farmers and doubling of their income. He also said the rate at which food processing industry gets credit is equally important as at what rate the farmer gets credit. He pointed out that the small and medium enterprises are sometimes the 'worst hit' and have to sometimes pay the highest rate of interest with many banks reluctant to lend after being faced by mounting bad loans.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10416.25, down by 36.25 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 10413.75 and 10449.50. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 2.96%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.59%, Indiabulls Housing up by 1.16%, ONGC up by 1.12% and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone up by 0.95%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.56%, Hindalco down by 2.31%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.71%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.60% and Ambuja Cement down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 166.94 points or 0.58% to 28,436.67, Nikkei 225 decreased 54.14 points or 0.24% to 22,484.98, KOSPI Index shed 14.67 points or 0.57% to 2,543.30, Taiwan Weighted slipped 8.31 points or 0.08% to 10,792.46 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.52 points or 0.13% to 3,367.23.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.6 points or 0.15% to 1,743.53 and Jakarta Composite was up by 2.8 points or 0.05% to 6,042.34.