Markets near day’s low; Sensex below 33,400 level

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in late afternoon session and were hovering near intraday lows, despite higher opening in European markets. Continuous selling in Energy and Consumer Durables stock weighted on the sentiments. Some concerns also spread among the investors due to surge in oil prices which likely to prevent the Reserve Bank of India from cutting interest rates anytime soon. Sentiments remained downbeat with private report that a year after the Indian government scrapped high denomination currency notes, a wide range of indicators suggest the economy is still coming to terms with the move. Investors failed to get relief with BMI Research’s latest report that the ongoing economic reforms and improvements to the business environment will continue to support India's economic growth over the coming years, and they expect the country to be one of the best performing emerging market economies, with real GDP growth set to average 6.5 percent over the next five fiscal years. Meanwhile, India initiated an anti-dumping probe into imports of a certain kind of paper from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore following complaints from some domestic companies.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors monitored a fresh batch of corporate earnings. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Shri Dinesh Mills surged after the company incorporated its wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) company by name ‘Fernway Textiles’ vide Certificate of Incorporation dated November 6, 2017 issued by the Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33359.66, down by 371.53 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 33343.47 and 33865.95. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.77%, while Small cap index was down by 1.75%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.79% and TECK up by 1.16%, while Healthcare down by 3.74%, Realty down by 2.65%, Consumer Durables down by 2.35%, Energy down by 2.07% and Basic Materials down by 2.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.07%, TCS up by 1.94%, Wipro up by 0.57%, NTPC up by 0.39% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 17.41%, Cipla down by 5.54%, Sun Pharma down by 3.83%, Reliance Industries down by 3.25% and SBI down by 3.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, supporting the government’s continuous drive to make India digital, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor N.S.Vishwanathan has said that digitisation can help the country leapfrog over the developed countries. He also stressed on setting up of a public credit registry in India, saying that it would help to further speed up digitisation.

RBI Deputy Governor also highlighted the positive changes in banking system due to digitisation move and added that the move along with several policy changes and an enabling environment have led to increase in digital banking. He further noted recent trends in banking industry, saying that the relevance of ‘brick and mortar’ banking is diminishing and branches are now being replaced with banking outlets as the point of customer services.

Vishwanathan also said that offering of financial services by many institutions have been also reducing the need for intermediation. However, he also expressed concerns over the challenge of cyber security and made a case for strong IT systems for banks to prevent frauds.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10350.05, down by 101.75 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 10341.45 and 10485.75. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 3.66%, HPCL up by 2.59%, TCS up by 2.36%, Infosys up by 2.23% and Tech Mahindra up by 2.22%. On the flip side, Lupin down by 17.33%, Cipla down by 5.60%, Sun Pharma down by 3.99%, SBI down by 3.59% and Yes Bank down by 3.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 6.74 points or 0.39% to 1,749.03, Jakarta Composite increased 9.02 points or 0.15% to 6,059.84, Shanghai Composite increased 25.4 points or 0.75% to 3,413.58, Taiwan Weighted increased 54.15 points or 0.5% to 10,840.34, Nikkei 225 increased 389.25 points or 1.73% to 22,937.60 and Hang Seng increased 397.54 points or 1.39% to 28,994.34. On the flip side, KOSPI Index decreased 3.97 points or 0.16% to 2,545.44.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.75 points or 0.01% to 7,563.03, France’s CAC rose 10.15 points or 0.18% to 5,517.40 and Germany’s DAX was up by 28.89 points or 0.21% to 13,497.68.