Benchmarks trade lower tailing weak global cues

Indian equity benchmarks made a pessimistic start and are trading lower in early deals following feeble global cues. Traders remained watchful ahead of ongoing corporate earnings for the March 2018 quarter (Q4FY18) and global crude oil prices. Traders shrugged off Finance Ministry’s proposal of relaxing certain conditions for availing the concessional 10 percent long term capital gains tax. Listing out scenarios wherein individuals need not pay Securities Transaction Tax (STT) at the time of purchase to avail the concessional tax rate, the Finance Ministry invited stakeholder comments on the draft notification by April 30. Investors failed to get any sense of relief with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the government has finalised a new industrial policy with a major focus on promoting setting up of industrial units in rural areas.

On the global front, all the Asian markets are trading in red, mirroring a sell-off on Wall Street on fears about slowing growth and falling company profits. The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as market-men shrugged off an initial positive reaction to earnings news from several big-name companies.

Back home, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that India’s eastern states have done remarkably well on ease of doing business index, but he stressed that they need to repeat their progress on the human development index as well. He, however, said several Indian states remain backward on human development indicators because of legacy issues. In scrip specific developments, Hero MotoCorp gained on hiking prices of its products and Deep Industries advanced on receiving Letter of Award worth Rs 161.70 crore.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34514.04, down by 102.60 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 34512.98 and 34614.61. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.40%, while Small cap index was down by 0.12%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.24%, IT up by 1.09%, TECK up by 0.94% and Realty was up by 0.16%, while Utilities down by 1.03%, Metal down by 0.92%, Power down by 0.86%, Bankex down by 0.64% and Capital Goods was down by 0.62% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.31%, Wipro up by 1.88%, TCS up by 1.38%, Adani Ports up by 0.85% and Sun Pharma up by 0.55%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.59%, Yes Bank down by 1.39%, Axis Bank down by 1.34%, ONGC down by 1.15% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting India’s eastern states’ remarkable ranking on ease of doing business index, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has stated that the country needs to do well on the human development index (HDI) as well. His remarks came a day after he said the states in India’s southern and western region were growing rapidly, but those like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were keeping the country backward. Besides, India is still 131 out of 188 countries in HDI.

Kant noted that several Indian states remain backward on human development indicators because of legacy issues. He added that the government’s Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) aims to correct this by focusing on education, health and nutrition on a real-time basis and they are capturing incremental progress of 115 districts on 49 indicators.

NITI Aayog CEO further said that the focus of the ADP is to improve India’s rank in HDI, raising the living standards of citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all. The programme is being implemented in the spirit of cooperative federalism in full partnership with states. He added that these states have achieved impressive economic growth in recent years and this must be accompanied by all-round development as envisaged in the ADP.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10580.90, down by 33.45 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 10577.35 and 10612.60. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.16%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.79%, Wipro up by 1.66%, TCS up by 1.44% and BPCL up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.32%, GAIL India down by 1.97%, NTPC down by 1.62%, Yes Bank down by 1.56% and Cipla down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; Hang Seng declined 257.35 points or 0.84% to 30,378.89, Nikkei 225 decreased 83.7 points or 0.38% to 22,194.42, Jakarta Composite dropped 69.25 points or 1.11% to 6,160.39, Taiwan Weighted slipped 37.8 points or 0.36% to 10,541.70, KOSPI Index fell 21.73 points or 0.88% to 2,442.41, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI shed 14.34 points or 0.77% to 1,851.00 and Shanghai Composite was down by 9.62 points or 0.31% to 3,119.31.