Bourses continue to trade lower; Coal India, ONGC major losers

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in the early afternoon session, as caution set in ahead of the Consumer Price Index-based inflation data for October scheduled to be released today. The sentiments remained on pessimistic mood with data showing that India’s Industrial production growth slowed down to 3.8% in the month of September 2017, as against 5.7% in September 2016, due to subdued performance of the manufacturing sector, coupled with contraction in output of consumer durables. Adding the pessimism among investors, investments in the Indian capital market through participatory notes plunged to an over eight-year low of Rs1.23 lakh crore at September-end in view of stringent norms put in place by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Besides, a mixed lead from Asian markets along with depreciation in rupee value against the dollar, too affected the market sentiments. In scrip specific development, Coal India was down by over three percent on reporting 40% decline in Q2 consolidated net profit.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors look to see whether US Republicans can hammer out a tax reform deal quickly. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33232.41, down by 82.15 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 33159.01 and 33417.30. 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 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.49%, Bankex up by 0.34%, Consumer Disc up by 0.26%, TECK up by 0.24% and Auto up by 0.14%, while Realty down by 1.82%, Oil & Gas down by 1.43%, Capital Goods down by 1.24%, Metal down by 1.21% and Energy down by 1.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.09%, SBI up by 2.04%, TCS up by 1.73%, Axis Bank up by 1.68% and Sun Pharma up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.60%, ONGC down by 2.36%, HDFC down by 2.03%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.63% and Tata Steel down by 1.32% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India's overall exports of finished steel, jumped by 45 percent to 0.778 Million Tonne (MT) in October 2017, as compared to 0.537 MT in the same month last year. According to the report by Joint Plant Committee (JPC), which collects data on iron and steel industry in the country, during April- October 2017, export of total finished steel was up by 57.7 percent at 5.626 MT over the same period last year. However, the report pointed out that, on a monthly basis, export in October 2017 was 30 percent lower than 1.115 MT in September this year.

The report also stated that the import of finished steel also surged by 11.5 percent at 0.600 MT in October 2017 compared to 0.538 MT in the same month last year. It noted that import of total finished steel at 4.916 MT in April- October 2017 was up by 18.9 percent over the same period of last year. However, on a month-on-month basis, the overall import in October this year was down by 25.7 percent over September 2017. Besides, it mentioned that India remained a net exporter of total finished steel last month and during April-October 2017. 

As per the report, the consumption of total finished steel grew 5.5 percent to 7.486 MT in October 2017 over 7.093 MT in October last year. It noted that on a month-on-month basis, the consumption in October was up by 1 percent over September this year. It also showed that during April- October 2017, the consumption of total finished steel in India rose by 4.5 percent to 50.337 MT over the same period of last year, under the influence of rising production for sale and imports. India is the world's third largest producer of crude steel after China and Japan. The country is now aiming to grab the second spot.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10277.30, down by 44.45 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 10258.25 and 10334.15. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.83%, SBI up by 1.68%, Axis Bank up by 1.54%, TCS up by 1.49% and Sun Pharma up by 1.45%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.92%, Coal India down by 2.83%, ONGC down by 2.43%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.31% and Bosch down by 2.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 2.4 points or 0.14% to 1,744.68, Shanghai Composite was up by 10.38 points or 0.3% to 3,443.05, Jakarta Composite rose 14.38 points or 0.24% to 6,036.20 and Hang Seng added 75.68 points or 0.26% to 29,196.60. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 decreased 300.43 points or 1.32% to 22,380.99, Taiwan Weighted was down by 48.75 points or 0.45% to 10,683.92 and KOSPI Index shed 12.6 points or 0.5% to 2,530.35.