Bourses trim losses in late afternoon session

The local benchmarks trimmed their most of the losses in late afternoon session, despite weak opening in European markets. Traders took support with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that the time has come for consolidation of reforms, including GST, bankruptcy code and benami law, initiated by the Modi government in the last 42 months to ensure that the steps deliver the 'desired fruits'. Buying in Realty, Power and Utilities stocks, also helped the indices to pare losses. Some relief also came with Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian’s statement that India’s steady growth has resulted in a consistent decline in poverty and improvement in several human development indices. However, markets continue to trade in red territory as global rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) kept its India rating unchanged at the lowest investment grade of ‘BBB-’, with a stable outlook. Separately, ASSOCHAM in its latest report has stated that inflation would remain a key concern both for the government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI), dimming chances of any interest rates cut in the next bi-monthly monetary policy meeting in December, too kept the markets’ mood down.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, on the back of weakness in Asian equities, while the euro reached a two-month peak against the dollar amid positive German data and hopes that a political crisis in the country can be resolved. Back home, in scrip specific development, Steel Strips Wheels (SSWL) traded jubilantly after the company bagged another repeat exports order for its truck wheels plant in Chennai. The total order size is 2,500 truck wheels to be supplied in next month from Chennai Truck wheels plant.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33664.67, down by 14.57 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 33540.46 and 33665.25. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.13%, Power up by 0.94%, Utilities up by 0.66%, Consumer Durables up by 0.62% and Consumer Disc up by 0.56%, while Metal down by 0.78%, IT down by 0.38%, FMCG down by 0.22%, Oil & Gas down by 0.12% and TECK down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.83%, Axis Bank up by 2.70%, ONGC up by 1.46%, Wipro up by 0.58% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.32%, Infosys down by 1.26%, Tata Motors down by 0.93%, Tata Steel down by 0.92% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commenting on global rating agency S&P’s decision to keep India’s rating unchanged, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said that the government is not disappointed with the S&P’s ratings. He said the rating agency has spoken favourably and also estimates that India would grow at 7.6 per cent plus in times to come. Garg further said the rating agency probably gave larger weight to fiscal side and 'that is why they played a little cautious'. However, he expressed optimism with government’s various reforms like fiscal consolidation drive and note ban and said that India’s second quarter (Q2) growth will be far better than the first quarter (Q1) of the current financial year.

Garg added that the economy will grow at a faster pace in the second quarter, noting that the decline path is bottomed out by reversing in growth and economy’s turnaround is very clear. He said 'We are not disappointed but our expectation would be that S&P also takes into account what the government has done' which are favourable for the economy. He also pointed that S&P’s assessment about state debt does not appear to be 'very sound' as states are constrained constitutionally and otherwise not to exceed to the prescribed borrowing limits.

While talking about S&P's status quo, Economic Affairs Secretary said that though the ratings agency did not upgrade India’s rating, but the rating agency has kept similar views like Moody’s, on the country’s structural reforms, growth story and institutional reforms. Moody’s recently had upgraded India’s sovereign rating to Baa2 - the highest since 1988.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10383.85, down by 5.85 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 10340.20 and 10386.35. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.11%, Axis Bank up by 2.41%, UPL up by 1.94%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.92% and ONGC up by 1.46%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 1.58%, Indusind Bank down by 1.48%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.42%, Infosys down by 1.16% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.11% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 180.13 points or 0.6% to 29,686.19, Taiwan Weighted decreased 103.16 points or 0.95% to 10,750.93, Nikkei 225 decreased 54.86 points or 0.24% to 22,495.99, KOSPI Index decreased 36.52 points or 1.44% to 2,507.81, Shanghai Composite decreased 31.59 points or 0.94% to 3,322.23, Jakarta Composite decreased 22.62 points or 0.37% to 6,044.52 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.04 points or 0.06% to 1,716.19.

All European markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 25.37 points or 0.19% to 13,034.47, France’s CAC decreased 12.58 points or 0.23% to 5,377.88 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 6.47 points or 0.09% to 7,403.17.