Weak trade persists on D- Street

Key Indian benchmarks continued their weak trade in late morning session, on the back of selling in Energy, Telecom and Metal stocks amid mixed Asian markets. Investors 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. Sentiments remained down-beat with report stating that adverse macroeconomic impact of rise in crude oil prices, said every $10 per barrel rise in the price will worsen India’s fiscal balance by 0.1 percent and current account balance by 0.4 percent of GDP. However, losses were limited  with Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that India offers ‘golden opportunities’ for global investors in sectors such as infrastructure, transport, agriculture and food processing. Besides, some support also came with the private report stating that cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) equity flows into India reached $114.4 billion during the last two financial years – 2015-16 and 2016-17.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors digested earnings reports and President Donald Trump's tour of the region got underway. Back home, in scrip specific development, Tata Power gained after the company’s renewable portfolio in India has registered a healthy profit of Rs 173 crore in Q2 of FY18, a 101% increase from Q2FY17 led by profits from the renewable acquisition. Additionally, the company also announced that its consolidated underlying EBITDA for the quarter is up by 16% due to strong operating performance of all its businesses. The non fossil fuel portfolio stood at 3210 MW as of November 05, 2017, a healthy increase from the corresponding quarter last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33682.72, down by 2.84 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 33582.38 and 33712.29. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.54%, while Small cap index was up by 0.57%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 7.44%, Consumer Disc up by 1.12%, Auto up by 1.08%, Realty up by 0.89% and Industrials up by 0.68%, while Energy down by 0.56%, Telecom down by 0.56%, Metal down by 0.43%, Oil & Gas down by 0.23% and TECK down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.09%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.92%, ONGC up by 2.85%, Tata Motors up by 1.83% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.54%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.27%, Asian Paints down by 0.94%, Reliance Industries down by 0.94% and NTPC down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, days after it gave India a 30 place jump in its 'ease of doing business' ranking among 190 countries, the World Bank in its latest report has said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and Narendra Modi-led government’s resolve to push reforms would catapult the country to become a high middle-income economy by the year 2047. The multilateral development bank also credited India’s extraordinary achievement of quadrupling of per capita income to reforms taken over past three decades.

Comparing the country’s achievement of moving into the top 100 in ease of doing business global rankings from its 130th position last year, World Bank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kristalina Georgieva has said that India has achieved remarkable overall success and a jump of this nature is very rare since the beginning of the survey 15 year ago. She said “I understand that in a cricket-loving nation hitting a century is a very important milestone.”  She noted that last week, India moved for the first time into the top 100 of World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business global rankings due to sustained business reforms over the past several years. She said “I have no doubt that when India hits another century, the century of independence in 2047, most people in India would be the part of global middle class. India will be a high middle income country.”

Lauding government’s efforts to carry forward reforms, including unification of indirect taxes, the World Bank CEO has said that the GST reform creates an incredible opportunity for India to grow through unified internal market. She also pointed out that there is visible impact of reforms on foreign investment and added that foreign direct investment (FDI) has doubled to $60 billion from $36 billion in 2013-14. Besides, she noted that investment in infrastructure building, investment in its people and strengthening of cooperative and competitive federalism are foundation for more progress in the future.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10441.10, down by 11.40 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 10413.75 and 10453.25. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.93%, ONGC up by 2.48%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.45%, Tata Motors up by 1.61% and Aurobindo Pharma up by 1.54%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.84%, BPCL down by 1.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.45%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.33% and Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite increased 1.45 points or 0.04% to 3,373.20, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.73 points or 0.16% to 1,743.66, Jakarta Composite increased 8.04 points or 0.13% to 6,047.58 and Nikkei 225 increased 16.99 points or 0.08% to 22,556.11.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 152.53 points or 0.53% to 28,451.08, Taiwan Weighted decreased 14.58 points or 0.13% to 10,786.19 and KOSPI Index decreased 9.24 points or 0.36% to 2,548.73.