Bourses continue to trade sluggish in early afternoon deals

Mirroring weak global cues, Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in early afternoon session, with losses of over half a percent. Sentiments remained down-beat with a private report which expects that PSU banks will report treasury loss of Rs 20K crore in Q4. It is of the view that the bond hit will add to Q4 woes while over ownership will weigh on earnings.  Traders failed to take any sense of relief from report stating that the Indian economy is likely to recover gradually to 7.1 per cent in 2018-19 financial year as GST related disruptions have smoothened and consumption levels have improved. The session was also negative for broader indices, which succumbing to selling pressure, trading with losses in the range of 1.10-1.80%. In scrip specific development, Shriram Transport Finance Company was up by around a percent on raising funds worth Rs 500 crore on private placement basis.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, with investors spooked by news that Gary Cohn would resign as President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser after he lost a fight over tariffs. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33112.65, down by 204.55 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 33085.37 and 33331.21. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index., while 1 stock remained unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.13%, while Small cap index was down by 1.72%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.20% and Consumer Durables up by 0.01%, while Metal down by 1.87%, Realty down by 1.69%, PSU down by 1.67%, Power down by 1.63% and Telecom down by 1.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 0.85%, Tata Motors up by 0.82%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.82%, ITC up by 0.55% and NTPC up by 0.43%. On the flip side, SBI down by 3.20%, ONGC down by 2.48%, ICICI Bank down by 2.47%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.08% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.06% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that public sector banks (PSBs) have written-off loans worth Rs 81,683 crore in the financial year 2016-17, including Rs 20,339 crore by the State Bank of India. He indicated that, the amount written off by nationalized banks was Rs 28,781 crore during the current fiscal (up to September, 2017). Besides, he noted that writing-off of loans is done for tax benefit as well as capital optimization. However, he clarified that borrowers of such loans continued to be liable for repayment.

As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines and policy approved by bank Boards, non-performing loans, including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance-sheet of the bank concerned by way of write-off. The minister further said that recovery of dues takes place on ongoing basis under legal mechanisms, which include, the Secularisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, Debts Recovery Tribunals and Lok Adalats. Therefore, he said that write-off does not benefit borrowers.

Besides, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla has said that in the five-financial years since April 1, 2013, banks have reported 13,643 cases of fraud involving a total amount of Rs 52,717 crore. On a query regarding benami deals, he said that over 1,000 properties have been attached provisionally under the Prohibition of Benami Properties Transactions Act till January 31, 2018. He added that the value of properties under provisional attachment is over Rs 38 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10175.80, down by 73.45 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 10163.40 and 10243.35. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 1.29%, Zee Entertainment up by 0.96%, Tata Motors up by 0.85%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.82% and Bharti Infratel up by 0.71%. On the flip side, SBI down by 3.22%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 2.96%, Vedanta down by 2.89%, ONGC down by 2.70% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.44% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 357.03 points or 1.17% to 30,153.70, Nikkei 225 was down by 165.04 points or 0.77% to 21,252.72, Jakarta Composite shed 91.46 points or 1.41% to 6,408.65, Taiwan Weighted dropped 39.02 points or 0.36% to 10,745.32, Shanghai Composite declined 17 points or 0.52% to 3,272.65, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 12 points or 0.65% to 1,836.37 and KOSPI Index was down by 9.59 points or 0.4% to 2,401.82.