Markets hover near day’s low

The local benchmarks extended their losses to hover near the intraday lows in late afternoon session, amid weak trade in Asian markets. Investors reduced their bets ahead of November derivatives expiry and release of September-quarter GDP data later in the week. Besides, Standard & Poor's decision to keep India's sovereign rating unchanged, continued weighing on the sentiments. Markets managed to enter into green territory but failed to hold the momentum and extended losses. Sentiments were subdued with reports that the government's revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) slipped to Rs 83,346 crore in the month of October, from more than Rs 92,000 crore in the previous month, primarily because taxes on most commodities have come down. Some concerns also came with rating agency CRISIL's report that India's competitiveness in the labour intensive export sectors has been on a declining path in the last decade and needs significant structural reforms that need to be addressed. Almost all the sectoral indices were trading in red except Metal and FMCG, while the broader markets exhibited mixed trend.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as concerns over political tensions in German subsided and market sentiment improved. However, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) traded higher after the company won an order for setting up six decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33602.55, down by 121.89 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 33576.65 and 33770.15. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.12% and FMCG up by 0.03%, while Telecom down by 1.33%, Consumer Durables down by 0.80%, Realty down by 0.76%, Energy down by 0.69% and PSU down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.19%, Coal India up by 0.97%, Asian Paints up by 0.70%, HDFC up by 0.68% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.57%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.64%, ICICI Bank down by 1.56%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.36%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.31% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, soothing some concerns of rise in fiscal deficit, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the reform initiatives like disinvestment drive and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will reduce pressure on the fiscal math of the country, in line with the government’s commitment to achieve the fiscal deficit of 3.2% for fiscal 2018.

As per the report, successful subscription of Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is helping the government meet its ambitious Rs 72,500 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal and as of November 24, 2017, the government has raised in excess of Rs 52,300 crore. The rating agency also expressed confidence of good returns from the divestment strategy in the future, and mentioned that the divestment strategy has a potential to generate Rs 1 trillion and also provide buffer against lower surplus transferred by the Reserve Bank and the likely shortfall from the telecom sector.

It further stated that even though there can be an adverse impact of Rs 11,000 crore on the Central finances due to a commitment of a 14 per cent revenue sharing with the state from central GST to meet their projected shortfall, the final results will not be so bad. It further expects improvement in revenue collection and return filing compliance following GST implementation.

The report found that front-loading of capex is slowing down after witnessing faster capex growth in the initial months of FY18 and there will be no need of any additional budgetary allocation in FY18 for proposed bank recapitalisation and Bharatmala Pariyojana. Further, it suggested that expected revenue shortfall can be covered by higher non-debt capital receipts, noting that this will not create fiscal space for additional spending.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10367.30, down by 32.25 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 10355.20 and 10409.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 1.51%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.26%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.16%, Coal India up by 1.05% and UPL up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.99%, Aurobindo Pharma down by 1.90%, NTPC down by 1.72%, Sun Pharma down by 1.51% and ICICI Bank down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted decreased 43.86 points or 0.41% to 10,707.07, Jakarta Composite decreased 11.67 points or 0.19% to 6,052.91, Nikkei 225 decreased 9.75 points or 0.04% to 22,486.24, Hang Seng decreased 5.34 points or 0.02% to 29,680.85 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 3.15 points or 0.18% to 1,716.71. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 6.38 points or 0.25% to 2,514.19 and Shanghai Composite increased 11.43 points or 0.34% to 3,333.66.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC rose 7.51 points or 0.14% to 5,367.60, Germany’s DAX increased 9.87 points or 0.08% to 13,010.07 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 15.07 points or 0.2% to 7,398.97.