Bourses trim some losses in late afternoon session

The local equity benchmarks trimmed some intraday losses in late afternoon session, with stocks like Yes Bank and Maruti Suzuki rallying in the markets, supported by easing WPI inflation. Firm opening in European markets along with banking stocks recovery also helped the indices to trim the losses. India’s inflation on wholesale level softened in the month of February, continuing its easing trend for the third straight month. According to the latest data released by the government, WPI stood at 2.48% (provisional) in February as against 2.84% (provisional) for the previous month and 5.51% during the corresponding month of the previous year. Traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the new industrial policy, which will be released soon, will focus on modernising existing industries, besides pushing for frontier technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence. Some relief also came with Finance Ministry’s statement that the various initiatives taken by the government has started yielding results with loans to the sector witnessing a growth of 20%. Adding some comfort among the investors, a private report stated that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut key policy rates by 25 bps in August, which will lead to lending rate cuts, and in turn support growth. However, the trade remained in the red, as the domestic sentiments remained cautious with India Ratings and Research’s latest report stating that 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.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, despite increased trade tensions in view of reports that the US is seeking to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after a series of public rifts over policy on North Korea, Russia and Iran and also shut down Broadcom's proposed buyout of Qualcomm, suggesting that the White House may take a harder line on trade. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Yes Bank soared on acquiring 89,781,906 equity shares, constituting 17.31% of the paid-up share capital, having nominal value of Rs 10 per share of Fortis Healthcare, pursuant to invocation of pledge on the said equity shares subsequent to default by promoters group companies in the credit facility provided by the Bank.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33815.35, down by 41.43 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 33580.69 and 33830.02. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.12%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.34%, Consumer Durables up by 0.26% and IT up by 0.05%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.06%, Telecom down by 0.92%, Energy down by 0.88%, Metal down by 0.64% and Realty down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.06%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.55%, SBI up by 0.53%, ICICI Bank up by 0.39% and Axis Bank up by 0.27%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 1.58%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.57%, HDFC down by 1.19%, Tata Steel down by 1.16% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the central government has released a total of Rs 28,398 crore to states as Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation for the July-December period of 2017, with Karnataka getting a major pie. He also said that states are protected from any loss of revenues arising from rollout of the new indirect tax regime under the GST law.

The government has lowered the indirect tax revenue collection forecast in the revised estimates by Rs 51,856 crore to Rs 8.75 lakh crore in FY18. As per the Union Budget estimates, over Rs 9.26 lakh crore was to be collected from indirect taxes.

During July-December 2017, Rs 4,130 crore has been released to Karnataka as compensation, followed by Rs 2,838 crore to Punjab, Rs 2,532 crore to Gujarat, Rs 2,119 to Bihar, Rs 1,911 crore to Rajasthan and Rs 1,520 crore to Uttar Pradesh, among various states. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10404.60, down by 22.25 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 10336.30 and 10408.90. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.71%, Yes Bank up by 2.59%, Ambuja Cement up by 1.99%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.07% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.80%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.58%, HPCL down by 2.00%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.62% and ONGC down by 1.58% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 190.81 points or 0.87% to 21,777.29, Hang Seng decreased 166.44 points or 0.53% to 31,435.01, Taiwan Weighted decreased 56.83 points or 0.51% to 11,038.80, Jakarta Composite decreased 27.26 points or 0.43% to 6,385.58, Shanghai Composite decreased 18.86 points or 0.57% to 3,291.38, KOSPI Index decreased 8.41 points or 0.34% to 2,486.08 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.6 points or 0.3% to 1,858.43.

All European markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX increased 6.38 points or 0.05% to 12,227.41, France’s CAC increased 6.67 points or 0.13% to 5,249.46 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 23.85 points or 0.33% to 7,162.63.