Bourses continue sluggish trade; Oil & Gas stocks fall most

Key Indian equity benchmarks continued their sluggish trade in red terrain in morning session, with the Sensex falling more than 50 points, amid weak cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were downbeat with ASSOCHAM’s latest report stating that India’s economy may be impacted if global trade war escalates further into a ‘full-scale global trade war’. The Industry body added that it may reflect in enlarging the country’s current account deficit (CAD) and it will impact Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as well. Weak broader markets along with heavy selling in Oil & Gas, Utilities and Metal stocks also weighed on the sentiments. Adding some worries on the street, the government reported that as many as 359 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore and above, have shown cost overrun to the tune of Rs 2.18 lakh crore owing to delays and other reasons. Besides, traders remained cautious with a report that the country’s foreign exchange reserves decreased marginally by $152.4 million to $421.334 billion in the week to March 16, on account of a fall in foreign currency assets. In the previous week, the reserves had increased by $728.9 million to $421.487 billion. The market participants also took note of Raghuram Rajan’s statement that the global economic recovery could be hit if the trade war between the US and China escalate.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, amid worries that a full-blown trade war between the US and China could negatively impact global economic growth. Back home, in scrip specific development, VA Tech Wabag traded higher on incorporating a subsidiary company in the name of ‘VA Tech Wabag Brazil Servicos De Agua E Saneamento LTDA’ (Wabag Brazil) with Commercial Registry, Brazil, on March 08, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 32535.36, down by 61.18 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 32521.40 and 32659.80. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.65%, Capital Goods up by 0.52%, Bankex up by 0.21% and Realty up by 0.09%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.39%, Utilities down by 1.07%, Metal down by 0.90%, Basic Materials down by 0.86% and IT down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.15%, SBI up by 1.07%, Indusind Bank up by 0.93% and Yes Bank up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.94%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.88%, Tata Motors down by 1.84%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.78% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s largest apex body of business organisation, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has said that India should play a significant role in reducing the emerging possibilities of a global trade war between the United States and China that can disrupt the positive outlook in the world trade. It observed that the US protectionist measures have raised fears of a global trade war. It also highlighted the need for keeping the World Trade Organisation (WTO) process intact and also making the multilateral institution stronger so that a rule-based global trade is ensured and bilateral issues have an effective platform for resolution.

The industry body has stated that with the WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo raising alarm on the issue at the two-day mini-ministerial in New Delhi early this week, it is high time countries across the world think beyond retaliatory measures to counter the challenges posed by the targeting of the WTO by the US and unilateral increase in tariffs. It also said that India's growing acceptance as an important nation in facilitating constructive deliberations among the countries with diverging interests must be capitalised to strengthen the WTO.

Concern about a global trade war reemerged after US President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to slap tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports to punish the country for its ‘unfair’ seizure of American intellectual property, a move that could increase the already tense trade relations between the world's two biggest economies. In a retaliatory move, China unveiled plans to impose higher tariffs on $3 billion worth of American goods including pork and pipes in retaliation to US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Beijing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9968.70, down by 29.35 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 9968.00 and 10010.75. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 1.24%, ICICI Bank up by 1.20%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.12%, SBI up by 1.02% and Indusind Bank up by 0.97%. On the flip side, GAIL India down by 4.54%, HPCL down by 3.94%, Wipro down by 3.78%, Vedanta down by 2.26% and BPCL down by 2.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 168.59 points or 0.56% to 30,140.70, Nikkei 225 decreased 74.32 points or 0.36% to 20,543.54, Shanghai Composite decreased 51.85 points or 1.64% to 3,100.91, Jakarta Composite decreased 32.51 points or 0.52% to 6,178.19, Taiwan Weighted decreased 17.42 points or 0.16% to 10,805.91 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 7.79 points or 0.42% to 1,857.43. On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 7.34 points or 0.3% to 2,424.10.