Bourses slip further in late afternoon session

Indian local benchmarks slipped further in late afternoon session to hit fresh intraday lows, with all the sectoral indices trading in red, as India’s trade deficit widened to an almost three-year high of $14 billion for October and exports fell 1.12%. Weak global cues post correction in commodities also weighed on the sentiment. Back home, in line with larger peers, the broader markets too traded weak, with losses of more than a percent each, while Sun Pharma suffered the most among Sensex components by tumbling over 4% after reporting a big drop in consolidated net profit. Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that India is set to become an ‘extremely attractive’ country to do business, with greater digitisation and formalisation of financial activities and businesses, failed to provide relief to the investors.  Meanwhile, Indian companies have created more than 113,000 jobs in the US and invested nearly $18 billion in the country.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, following losses in Asia and Wall Street, with global equities slammed by sliding oil prices and US tax doubts. Back home, Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Panacea Biotec traded jubilantly after the company signed agreement with Technology Development Board (TDB), Govt. of India for providing the financial assistance of Rs 28.99 crore for the Development and commercialization of Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine (Live Attenuated, Recombinant, Lyophilized).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32740.29, down by 201.58 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 32725.25 and 32944.94. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.05%, while Small cap index was down by 1.41%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 3.24%, Basic Materials down by 2.28%, Realty down by 2.17%, Telecom down by 1.93% and Consumer Durables down by 1.89%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.29%, Asian Paints up by 1.00%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.68%, TCS up by 0.34% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.18%, ONGC down by 3.16%, ITC down by 1.83%, Tata Steel down by 1.79% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pointing that revival of infrastructure sector is in the primitive stages, credit rating agency, ICRA in its latest report has said that infrastructure companies with exposure to airport and highway sectors are doing well by showing improvement in their operational and financial performance, however many infrastructure players are struggling with stressed balance sheet problem.

As per ICRA’s report, aggregate debt of infra companies at a standalone level as of March 2017 rose only marginally from March 2016, while at the consolidated level, debt declined by 12% year-on-year to Rs 1.39 lakh crore from Rs 1.58 lakh crore, on account of stake disinvestment in subsidiaries or projects by the infra companies.

The report also found that the order book position of most construction companies have improved to over three times their last reported annual revenues, with government’s efforts to improve the country’s  infrastructure. ICRA however noted that the sector continue to face funding issues, as banks are still grappling with high Non-Performing Assets woes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10111.75, down by 74.85 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 10109.30 and 10175.45. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.42%, Eicher Motors up by 1.26%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.23%, Asian Paints up by 1.10% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.08%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.43%, Hindalco down by 4.39%, Vedanta down by 4.03%, ONGC down by 3.02% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 351.69 points or 1.57% to 22,028.32, Hang Seng decreased 300.43 points or 1.03% to 28,851.69, Taiwan Weighted decreased 56.53 points or 0.53% to 10,630.65, Shanghai Composite decreased 27.02 points or 0.79% to 3,402.52, KOSPI Index decreased 8.39 points or 0.33% to 2,518.25 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.36 points or 0.31% to 1,728.25. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite increased 17.47 points or 0.29% to 6,005.76.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 103.38 points or 0.79% to 12,930.10, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 30.48 points or 0.41% to 7,383.94 and France’s CAC decreased 20.96 points or 0.39% to 5,294.62.