Markets off day’s high; Consumer Durables stocks under pressure

Indian equity benchmarks pared most of their gains in late afternoon session to come off intraday high points, weighed by sluggish Consumer Durables, Energy and PSU stocks, despite firm opening in European markets. Besides, the major industry losers such as Coal India, Axis Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra also weighed on the sentiments. Anxiety spread among the investors with a private report that India’s economy will be hit hard by a combination of a global tariff war and the US Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening cycle. The report noted that a tariff war will reduce exports and lead to imported inflation, which will hurt Indian purchasing power and investments. Some concerns also came with a report highlighting that though the goods and services tax (GST) implemented by the government in July last year has simplified the tax regime and resolved some long-standing issues such as valuation and tax type for the real estate sector, the consumers might not see a significant reduction in property prices just yet. Traders also took note of International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) statement that closing of the US economy would damage both American and global trade growth prospects. However, the key indices were managing to hold their head above water in late noon deals, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) maintained its forecast for India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 7.4% for 2018 and 7.8% for 2019.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as investors monitored a fresh batch of corporate earnings and economic data. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Omaxe was trading higher after the company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary company in the name of ‘Omaxe New Faridabad Developers’ with effect from April 16, 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34425.69, up by 30.63 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 34364.79 and 34591.81. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.81%, Realty up by 1.02%, Telecom up by 0.80%, Basic Materials up by 0.37% and TECK up by 0.21%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.85%, Energy down by 0.61%, PSU down by 0.53%, Oil & Gas down by 0.50% and Bankex down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 3.27%, Wipro up by 2.22%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.63%, Yes Bank up by 0.91% and ONGC up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.30%, Axis Bank down by 1.27%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 0.80%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.79% and Indusind Bank down by 0.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to protect the domestic players and to discourage cheap imports, the government may impose anti-dumping duty on imports of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Sheet used in solar modules from China, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand, as the anti-dumping investigation is already in the process on this product.

The Directorate General of Antidumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) which administers the anti-dumping and countervailing measures in India, has initiated an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry, to determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of antidumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry.

RenewSys India had filed an application before the Authority for imposition of Anti-dumping duty on imports of EVA Sheet. The period of investigation is from October 01, 2016 to September 30, 2017. However, for the purpose of analyzing injury, the data of previous three years, i.e. FY15, FY16 and FY17 and the period of investigation will be considered.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10555.35, up by 6.65 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 10539.55 and 10594.20. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 3.12%, Wipro up by 2.44%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.36%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.65% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.40%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 3.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.69%, Titan Company down by 1.57%, BPCL down by 1.42% and Coal India down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite increased 18.99 points or 0.3% to 6,304.75, Shanghai Composite increased 24.6 points or 0.8% to 3,091.40, KOSPI Index increased 26.21 points or 1.07% to 2,479.98, Taiwan Weighted increased 37.44 points or 0.35% to 10,847.89, Hang Seng increased 221.5 points or 0.74% to 30,284.25 and Nikkei 225 increased 310.61 points or 1.42% to 22,158.20. On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 5.24 points or 0.28% to 1,875.25.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 27.76 points or 0.52% to 5,381.30, Germany’s DAX increased 46.78 points or 0.37% to 12,632.35 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 65.55 points or 0.91% to 7,291.60.