Weak trade continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in early afternoon deals, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants. Sentiments remained downbeat with report that investments in the domestic capital market through participatory notes (P-notes) plunged to a nearly eight-and-a-half-year low of Rs 1.19 lakh crore in January-end amid stringent norms put in place by regulator SEBI to check misuse. Some cautions also prevailed in the markets ahead of domestic economic data including December quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and fiscal deficit, scheduled to be released tomorrow. Besides, weak Asian cues coupled with depreciation in Indian rupee against the dollar, too impacted the sentiments. Traders failed to take any sense of relief from economic think-tank NCAER’s report that the Indian economy is projected to grow at 6.7 per cent in the current financial year and 7.5 per cent in 2018-19. In scrip specific development, Uniply Industries was up by over half a percent on incorporating a WOS company ‘Uniply Blaze’, which is registered with the Registrar of Companies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu on February 13, 2018.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as investors awaited new Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell's first congressional testimony to be delivered later today. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34362.88, down by 82.87 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 34328.53 and 34610.79. 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 0.33%, while Small cap index was down by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.86%, Consumer Durables up by 0.84%, Energy up by 0.35%, FMCG up by 0.28% and Utilities up by 0.09%, while PSU down by 0.90%, Realty down by 0.87%, Bankex down by 0.85%, Basic Materials down by 0.29% and Power down by 0.20% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.56%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.41%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.06%, Yes Bank up by 0.92% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.92%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 2.12%, SBI down by 1.55%, ICICI Bank down by 1.22%, Sun Pharma down by 1.16% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s economic think-tank, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pegged India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 7.5 percent for the next fiscal year 2018-19 and added that in the current fiscal year (2017-18) Indian economy will grow at 6.7 percent. The figures are in line with the growth projections in current year’s Economic Survey, which said India is likely to clock 7-7.5 percent growth in 2018-19, up from 6.75 percent in the current fiscal.

NCAER has projected that in 2017-18, the real agriculture Gross Value Added (GVA) will grow at 1.0 percent, real industry GVA at 5.2 percent, and real services GVA at 8.0 percent. It also said the wholesale price index (WPI) inflation is forecasted at 6.4 percent for FY18. Besides, the growth rates in exports and imports, in dollar terms, are estimated at 12.8 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively. Moreover, current account balance and central fiscal deficit, as percentages of GDP, are projected at 2.0 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively for FY18.

The country’s economic think-tank said that in agriculture sector, the estimated output of major crops based on area and output equations, suggests that the output of kharif foodgrains is expected to be 139.8-141.2 million tonnes. The output of rabi foodgrains is also expected to remain close to last year’s output of 137 million tonnes. Further, on the Reserves Bank of India’s (RBI’s) monetary policy front, it said that based on the current and evolving macroeconomic situation of the economy, the RBI is expected to continue with the neutral liquidity stance in the coming months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10549.75, down by 32.85 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 10541.00 and 10631.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.51%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.23%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.02%, Reliance Industries up by 0.89% and Lupin up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Ambuja Cement down by 4.73%, Axis Bank down by 2.32%, BPCL down by 1.61%, SBI down by 1.55% and Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 191.63 points or 0.61% to 31,306.97, Shanghai Composite was down by 40.22 points or 1.21% to 3,289.35, Taiwan Weighted shed 21.23 points or 0.2% to 10,815.47 and KOSPI Index dropped 1.51 points or 0.06% to 2,456.14.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 9.14 points or 0.49% to 1,869.22, Jakarta Composite was up by 15.65 points or 0.24% to 6,570.32 and Nikkei 225 added 236.23 points or 1.07% to 22,389.86.