Indian equities add losses; Metal stocks continue to fall

Adding some losses, Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in the early afternoon session, as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy outcome due later in the day. The sentiments remained in lackadaisical mood with report that India's total public debt (excluding liabilities under the public account) increased to Rs 65.65 lakh crore in the July-September quarter (Q2FY18), up by 2.53 percent over the previous quarter. Investors’ sentiments also got dampened with the National Council of Applied Economic Research’s (NCAER) latest report stating that India Inc’s confidence dived due to goods and services tax (GST) trouble in the second quarter (July-September) of the current financial year. Its Business Confidence Index (BCI) fell 12.9 per cent from the earlier quarter. Moreover, negative leads from Asian markets coupled with selling in Metal, Basic Materials and Telecom counters, too dampened the overall mood. In scrip specific development, HCL Technologies was up by over half a percent on entering into a strategic partnership with Siemens on Industry 4.0 solutions, with a strategic collaboration on the Siemens Industry Software Suite.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mostly in red, pressured by losses on Wall Street as the technology sector stuttered yet again after a brief rebound. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32680.61, down by 121.83 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 32621.10 and 32804.75. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.39%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.33% and IT up by 0.08%, while Metal down by 2.14%, Basic Materials down by 1.07%, Telecom down by 0.86%, PSU down by 0.73% and Healthcare down by 0.56% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.18%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.35%, Infosys up by 0.23%, Lupin up by 0.17% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.15%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.94%, SBI down by 1.68%, Tata Motors down by 1.16%, HDFC down by 1.06% and Sun Pharma down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with increasing airline's passengers traffic, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that as much as 1 percent of the world Gross domestic product (GDP), totaling $861 billion, is expected to be spent on air transport in the year 2018. It also expects that new destinations are likely to increase next year, with frequencies up too; both boosting consumer benefits.

The IATA, which represents around 275 airlines comprising 83 percent of global air traffic, pointed out that economic development worldwide is getting a significant boost from air transport. It noted that this wider economic benefit is being generated by increasing connections between cities - enabling the flow of goods, people, capital, technology and ideas - and falling air transport costs. Noting that governments have gained substantially from the good performance of the airline industry, it said that airlines and customers are forecast to generate $136 billion in tax revenues next year. It also mentioned that that is the equivalent of 45 percent of the industry's GVA (Gross Value Added, which is the firm-level equivalent of GDP), paid to governments in payroll, social security, corporate and product taxes.

The global airlines grouping expects that the value of international trade shipped by air next year to be $6.2 trillion, while tourists travelling by air in 2018 are projected to spend $776 billion. It also noted that the number of scheduled aircraft departures is forecast to exceed more than 38 million next year. That's an average of 73 aircraft departing each minute of 2018. It further stated that the industry continues to create high value added jobs.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10070.15, down by 48.10 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 10051.60 and 10104.20. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 1.29%, Reliance Industries up by 1.04%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.36%, HCL Tech. up by 0.35% and Infosys up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.45%, Hindalco down by 3.23%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.91%, Tata Steel down by 1.88% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 452.37 points or 1.57% to 28,390.43, Nikkei 225 was down by 445.34 points or 1.97% to 22,177.04, Taiwan Weighted dipped 172.93 points or 1.64% to 10,393.92, KOSPI Index dropped 35.75 points or 1.42% to 2,474.37, Shanghai Composite fell 23.17 points or 0.7% to 3,280.51 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 6.62 points or 0.38% to 1,718.22.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 37.5 points or 0.62% to 6,037.97.