Bears tighten grip on Dalal Street

The local equity benchmarks continued their southward journey in late afternoon session to reach their fresh intraday low points, with bears tightening their grip on the markets. Following the same trend, the broader markets were too showed lackluster trade in late afternoon deals, with the losses of more than 0.70%, each, while Energy index lost the most among all other sectoral indices on the BSE. The industry losers like Coal India, Tata Motors and Adani Ports & SEZ, were contributing to the losses. Sentiments remained downbeat, as the overall trade deficit widened to $11979.21 million during the month under review as against $9521.73 million in February 2017. The trade deficit during April- February 2017-18 was $143134.73 million as against $97858.73 million in the same period last year. Some anxiety spread among investors, amid political upheaval after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) formally decided to quit the NDA government. Some concerns also came with a report stating that India's public debt rose to Rs 66.61 lakh crore at the end of December 2017, representing a quarter-on-quarter increase of 1.22%.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even though a slew of factors such as concerns over the US investigation into the Trump Organization, a deepening scandal in Japan and rising political tensions between the United Kingdom and Russia sent investors into defensive mode. However, Asian markets were trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Punjab National Bank traded higher after the bank’s board approved issuance of Non-convertible secured/unsecured debentures (NCDs) aggregating up to an amount Rs 8,000 crore in tranches.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33217.38, down by 468.16 points or 1.39% after trading in a range of 33211.22 and 33691.32. There were 2 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.73%, while Small cap index was down by 0.71%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.40% and Telecom up by 0.18%, while Energy down by 2.73%, Metal down by 2.66%, Oil & Gas down by 2.47%, PSU down by 1.94% and Power down by 1.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.35% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.01%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 6.02%, Tata Motors down by 3.12%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.11%, NTPC down by 3.00% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, emphasizing on efforts being taken by the government to boost manufacturing in the country, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Suresh Prabhu has said that India could become $5 trillion economy by 2025, provided that there is consistent growth in manufacturing, services and agricultural sectors.

Prabhu underlined key role of the private sector to create new business models and strategies and leverage new technologies in order to fuel growth in the Indian economy and gave assurance of government’s support to it, noting that government will act as the facilitator in this process. Besides, he said that the government is focusing on twelve Champion Sectors with a view to drive manufacturing growth and to create employment opportunities in India. He added that these sectors have potential to become global champions and drive double digit growth in manufacturing.

Further, heads of industry bodies CII, FICCI, IFC, NASSCOM and NitiAayog, have expressed need to focus on various issues like technological disruptions, challenges due to climate change, positive use of India’s demographic dividend, conscious effort to make India’s manufacturing sector a part of global value chain and recognizing the importance of small and medium scale enterprises to fuel India’s growth story.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10210.95, down by 149.20 points or 1.44% after trading in a range of 10206.45 and 10346.30. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.45%, Aurobindo Pharma up by 0.56%, Bosch up by 0.45%, Yes Bank up by 0.13% and Bharti Infratel up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 6.07%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.88%, BPCL down by 3.50%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 3.38% and NTPC down by 3.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 127.44 points or 0.58% to 21,676.51, Hang Seng decreased 39.13 points or 0.12% to 31,501.97, Jakarta Composite decreased 27.93 points or 0.44% to 6,293.98 and Shanghai Composite decreased 21.23 points or 0.65% to 3,269.88. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 1.59 points or 0.06% to 2,493.97, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI increased 5.24 points or 0.28% to 1,850.51 and Taiwan Weighted increased 9.25 points or 0.08% to 11,027.70.

All European markets were trading in green; Germany’s DAX increased 0 points or 0% to 12,345.56, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 2.44 points or 0.03% to 7,142.20 and France’s CAC increased 6.97 points or 0.13% to 5,274.23.