Bourses continue lackluster trade in late afternoon deals

The local equity benchmarks continued lackluster trade in late afternoon session, tracking weak opening in European markets. Lower Asian markets along with heavy selling in Telecom, Consumer Durables and Metal stocks also weighed on the sentiments. Besides, weakness in industry majors like Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank put pressure on the markets. Traders booked profit in recent gainers ahead of January derivatives expiry on Thursday and ahead of the Union Budget next week. Some concerns lingering with global rating agency, S&P ratings’ latest report ‘APAC Economic Snapshots, January 2018’, which stated that overall economic risks in India remain low, but risks from higher oil prices have reappeared. International oil prices have been rising which has also led to increased prices of petrol and diesel and a majority of India’s import bill stem from crude oil purchases. However, downside remained capped in late noon deals with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the country may be among the top three largest economies in the world over the period of next 25 years as it had already shown its capacity to grow even in adverse conditions. He also said that India stood as an exception in a world where most countries had started to increasingly look inwards.

On the global front, European markets were trading in mostly in red, as investors focused on a batch of euro zone economic reports set to be released early in the session and as concerns over new US tarrifs dented market sentiment. Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) traded higher after the Bank inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Housing Bank (NHB) for implementation of the Rural Housing Interest Subsidy Scheme (RHISS) of the ministry of rural development, Government of India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36139.53, down by 0.45 points after trading in a range of 36036.51 and 36268.19. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.58%, while Small cap index was down by 0.80%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.62%, PSU up by 0.86%, TECK up by 0.65%, FMCG up by 0.37% and Healthcare up by 0.36%, while Telecom down by 3.04%, Consumer Durables down by 2.21%, Metal down by 1.46%, Basic Materials down by 1.26% and Energy down by 1.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.55%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.62%, TCS up by 2.33%, Sun Pharma up by 1.63% and ITC up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 5.17%, Tata Motors down by 2.94%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.48%, ICICI Bank down by 2.35% and Tata Steel down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting India is coming out of post Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation woes, global rating agency, Standard & Poor's (S&P) ratings, in its latest report titled ‘APAC Economic Snapshots, January 2018’ has said that overall economic risks in India remain low, on the back of pick up in industrial output and bank credit. However, the rating agency raised concerns over rising crude oil prices, terming it as a ‘risk’ for the country, as a majority of India's import bill stem from crude oil purchases.

The report further mentioned about recent growth of industrial sector, noting that Industrial output (and investment more generally) -- the missing piece of the sustainable growth story in recent years -- jumped to a 25-month high in November, led by manufacturing. Besides, the rating agency also highlighted improving bank credit situation to the real economy.

On the Asia-Pacific region, S&P ratings said that both export and domestic demand are showing positive signs in the more trade-dependent Asia-Pacific economies, with high export growth and broadening domestic demand. Apart from this, the report also expressed optimism over China's 2017 strong GDP growth which is suggesting an ongoing rebalancing of its economy and for Japan, it said that the near-term economic remains relatively bright in this country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11080.60, down by 3.10 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 11046.15 and 11110.10. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 3.51%, GAIL India up by 3.04%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 2.91%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.66% and TCS up by 2.39%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 5.41%, Tata Motors down by 3.12%, Hindalco down by 2.77%, ICICI Bank down by 2.40% and HPCL down by 2.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 183.37 points or 0.76% to 23,940.78, Taiwan Weighted decreased 100.95 points or 0.9% to 11,152.16, Jakarta Composite decreased 17.18 points or 0.26% to 6,618.16 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 1.85 points or 0.1% to 1,836.19. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 1.4 points or 0.06% to 2,538.00, Shanghai Composite increased 12.96 points or 0.37% to 3,559.47 and Hang Seng increased 27.99 points or 0.08% to 32,958.69.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 19.32 points or 0.25% to 7,712.51, France’s CAC decreased 10.52 points or 0.19% to 5,524.74 and Germany’s DAX decreased 3.82 points or 0.03% to 13,555.78.