Markets at day’s low; Sensex falls over 200 points

Key Indian benchmarks extended losses in late morning session to trade near their intraday low points, tracking weak cues from other Asian markets. Heavy selling in Telecom, Banking, Energy and Realty stocks, weighed on the sentiments. Anxiety spread among the investors with a report stating that the government is not in favour of farm loan waiver as it negatively impacts credit and recovery climate. Besides, in line with the larger peers, the broader markets were also trading sluggish. The market participants remained concerned with a report highlighting that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to reduce key policy rates in 2018 despite a dip in retail inflation in February. Risks like the higher minimum support prices (MSPs) for food grains promised in the budget, according to them, can push up the inflation in the next fiscal year. Traders took note of India Ratings and Research’s latest report which said, with the United States imposing import duties of 25% and 10% steel and aluminium under the Trump administration, Indian companies will not be directly hit, but could get hurt due to higher supply pressure in the countries where India is a major exporter. Investors paid no heed towards the finance ministry’s statement that the average monthly goods and services tax (GST) collection in the July-January period stood at Rs 89,767 crore, higher than Rs 87,468 crore reported earlier.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, following the weak lead from Wall Street overnight after US President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. News that US is seeking to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports also weighed on the markets. Back home, in scrip specific development, Lux Industries was trading higher after the company received an approval for further investment in equity shares of Artimas Fashions (presently wholly owned subsidiary of the company) who proposes to allot further shares to selected group of person on Private Placement basis including the company.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33650.68, down by 206.10 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 33637.65 and 33800.04. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.03%, while Small cap index was down by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.30%, Consumer Durables up by 0.22%, TECK up by 0.07% and Basic Materials up by 0.07%, while Telecom down by 1.09%, Bankex down by 0.91%, Energy down by 0.86%, Realty down by 0.80% and PSU down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 0.67%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.38%, Infosys up by 0.26%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.17% and TCS up by 0.07%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.76%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.72%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.58%, SBI down by 1.49% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to give a fillip to the textile sector, the Standing Committee on Labour chaired by Kirit Somaiya, in its report, has said that the Textiles Ministry should impress upon the Finance Ministry to reconsider the overall Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate structure for the textiles sector and impose higher anti-dumping duty to protect domestic players in the sector.

The panel noted that the Textiles Ministry has also taken up the issues on inverted duties structure on man-made fibre, imposition of GST on job work, credit transfer documents issues, non-refund of input tax credit, GST for weaving industry, lowering of GST rates for machinery used by MSME textile units, etc. It observed that the Ministry of Finance has approved Rs 7,147.73 crore only during the year 2018-19, against the Textile Ministry’s proposed outlay of Rs 10,109.05 crore.

The Committee further said that the Secretary, Ministry of Textiles has deposed that though it appears that Budgeted Expenditure (B.E) 2018-19 which includes Cotton Corporation of India’s loss of Rs 921.23 crore is more than the B.E 2017-18 by Rs 921.23 crore, in reality B.E 2018-19 is Rs 3 crore less than the B.E of 2017-18. It noted that the reduction of B.E would adversely impact implementation of ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Textiles, particularly those aimed at benefitting the unorganised sectors of powerloom, handloom, handicrafts, wool and sericulture.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10362.45, down by 64.40 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 10359.45 and 10407.05. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 1.63%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.41%, Ambuja Cement up by 0.90%, GAIL India up by 0.78% and HCL Tech up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 2.55%, ICICI Bank down by 1.97%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.95%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.60% and SBI down by 1.45% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 438.54 points or 1.39% to 31,162.91, Nikkei 225 decreased 210.46 points or 0.96% to 21,757.64, Taiwan Weighted decreased 56.83 points or 0.51% to 11,038.80, Jakarta Composite decreased 36.3 points or 0.57% to 6,376.55, Shanghai Composite decreased 17.73 points or 0.54% to 3,292.50, KOSPI Index decreased 11.19 points or 0.45% to 2,483.30 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 6.2 points or 0.33% to 1,857.83.