Key indices continue lackluster trade in noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in red in early afternoon session, on the back of selling activities by market-participants. Trading sentiments remained subdued with report that foreign investors have pulled out Rs 7,300 crore from the country’s stock markets this month so far, primarily due to rising crude prices and widening fiscal deficit. Further, subdued trend in Asian markets along with selling in Banking, Power and PSU stocks, too weighed on the sentiments. However, the markets restricted further down move, with taking support from industry body ASSOCHAM's Year-Ahead Outlook report stating that Indian economy is likely to touch 7% growth in 2018 with the government policies tilting towards the country's stress-ridden rural landscape in the penultimate year before the 2019 general elections. Broader indices were holding up their fort in green with gains in the range of 0.50%-0.75%.  In scrip specific development, Royal Orchid Hotels was up by over a percent after inaugurating its new hotel in Indore named ‘Regenta Central Indore’, a 4 star facility business boutique hotel.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red. Japan’s household spending rose 1.7% in November from a year earlier, much better than the 0.5% increase that had been expected. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33913.42, down by 26.88 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 33909.56 and 34005.37. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.53%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.51%, Metal up by 0.81%, Basic Materials up by 0.77%, Industrials up by 0.56% and Healthcare up by 0.49%, while Bankex down by 0.23%, Power down by 0.19% and PSU down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.30%, Asian Paints up by 1.23%, Sun Pharma up by 0.87%, Yes Bank up by 0.79% and Tata Steel up by 0.68%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.88%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.74%, SBI down by 0.67% and Coal India down by 0.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with a view to protect domestic manufacturers, India has initiated a probe to determine imposition of safeguard duty on surging imports of solar cells. Domestic manufacturers have approached the Directorate General of Safeguards (DGS) with a complaint that their sales and market share has more or less remained constant in recent years, despite rapid expansion in demand for solar cells in India. The domestic players had a market share of 13% in 2014-15, which is estimated to fall to 7% during 2017-18. The domestic industry has also asked the DGS for imposition of provisional safeguard duty in view of steep deterioration in the performance of the local players as a result of increased imports of the solar cells.

Solar cells, electrical devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity, are imported primarily from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. The petition for imposition of the import restrictive duty was submitted by Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA) on behalf of five Indian producers - Mundra Solar PV, Indosolar, Jupiter Solar Power, Websol Energy Systems and Helios Photo Voltaic. They want safeguard duty on ‘solar cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels’ immediately for four years. The DGS said the application has been examined and it has been found that prima facie the increased imports of the product have caused and are threatening to inflict serious injury on the domestic industry.

Imports of solar cell are estimated to increase from 1,275 MW in 2014-15 to 9,331 MW at March-end 2017. The domestic production was 246 MW in 2014-15 and is likely to increase to 1,164 MW in 2017-18. Besides, the government is targeting 100 Giga Watt (GW) of solar power capacity by 2022. The current installed capacity is about 15 GW. The government would auction 20 GW capacities by March 2018, and it will auction 30 GW in next year and another 30 GW in the subsequent year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10487.25, down by 5.75 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 10480.15 and 10515.10. There were 29 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bosch up by 1.67%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.27%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.25%, Vedanta up by 1.18% and Asian Paints up by 1.00%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.00%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.72% and SBI down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted dipped 100.58 points or 0.96% to 10,421.91, Nikkei 225 shed 46.49 points or 0.2% to 22,892.69, KOSPI Index decreased 13.2 points or 0.54% to 2,427.34 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 3.72 points or 0.21% to 1,756.52.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was up by 21.17 points or 0.65% to 3,301.63.