Bourses continue lackluster trade

The local benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in late afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty holding 34,000 and 10,500 marks, respectively. Sentiments remained down beat as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley admitted that the Indian economy slowed down in 2016-17, with the gross domestic product declining drastically from 8 percent in 2015-16 to 7.1 percent the next year. The markets got hit with reports that India’s fiscal deficit breached FY18 target at Nov-end by standing at 112% of Budget Estimates. The country’s fiscal deficit, the difference between government expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 6.12 lakh crore for the period April-November 2017-18. Besides, investors remained on sidelines ahead of December Manufacturing PMI data which is scheduled to be release on January 02, 2018. However, the downside remained capped on the back of firm broader indices and industries majors like Sun Pharma, Coal India and Wipro. Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index was the star-performer with gains of around 2%, followed by power, Utilities, Capital Goods and Healthcare. Meanwhile, the government has extended by 10 days the last date for filing of final sales return GSTR-1 till January 10 under the Goods and Services Tax. Businesses with turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore will have to file GSTR-1 for July-September by January 10, 2018, as against December 31, 2017 earlier.

On the global front, European and Asian markets remained closed on New Year's Eve. Back home, in scrip specific development, Globus Spirits traded higher after its wholly owned subsidiary - Unibev launched its brand ‘Laffaire’ for distribution in the U.T. of Puducherry in the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) segment through a tie-up manufacturing setup with the unit located at SHASHI Distilleries, Banerghatta Road, Bangalore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34026.72, down by 30.11 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 33991.67 and 34101.13. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.92%, Power up by 1.54%, Utilities up by 1.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.87% and Healthcare up by 0.78%, while IT down by 0.19%, Energy down by 0.17%, TECK down by 0.16%, Bankex down by 0.14% and Oil & Gas down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.52%, Coal India up by 1.43%, Wipro up by 1.31%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.00% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.92%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.16%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.92%, ICICI Bank down by 0.83%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.67% and ONGC down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rising crude oil prices due to geo-political tensions and production cuts by OPEC countries are likely to put more pressure on the government which is already facing tough fiscal situation. Credit ratings agency, ICRA in its latest report has said that higher crude prices could force the Government of India to reduce the excise duty on auto fuels, in order to soften the impact on consumers.

The ratings agency further noted that there will also be pressure on the government to increase subsidy allocation for the petroleum products, with increase in under-recoveries in ensuing years. ICRA also expects negative impact of crude oil spike on macro economy and oil marketing firm’s profitability. It said that rising crude prices would put pressure on the oil companies to increase their working capital and short-term debt levels and this will impact their profitability. It further noted that the oil marketing companies could face pressure on their marketing margins, due to rising prices of petroleum products and escalating competition from the private fuel retailers.

Besides, ICRA said that rising crude oil prices would also test the Government's resolve to keep prices of auto-fuels at market-determined levels, which would have material implications for private marketers. On the prices front, the rating agency said that petroleum product prices are rising following spike in crude oil and this would have marginal impact on petroleum products demand growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10517.05, down by 13.65 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 10504.25 and 10537.85. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.44%, Sun Pharma up by 1.35%, Wipro up by 1.29%, Coal India up by 1.25% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.07%.

On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 1.29%, BPCL down by 1.25%, TCS down by 1.17%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.89% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86% were the top losers.