Equity benchmarks continue sluggish trend

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in late morning session, with losses of around half a percent, tracking weak Asian cues as tariff woes between the U.S. and China returned, ahead of trade talks between the two countries. Investors’ sentiment also remained downbeat on RBI research paper highlighting that bad loans have impaired monetary policy transmission in India as banks were unable to increase their lending rates and protect net interest margins (NIMs) amid a broad deterioration in asset quality between 2013 and 2017. Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said that British investors need to develop state specific strategy for investments in India as it is diverse and offer different investment opportunities. Kumar further said that impediments in bringing British universities in India should be addressed.

On the Global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, ahead of the Sino-US trade talks and after the US Federal Reserve kept interest unchanged, acknowledging inflation is close to target without indicating any intention to veer from their gradual tightening of monetary policy. Back home, aviation stock remained sluggish despite a report from Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha stated that the aviation sector in India, currently growing at nearly 28 percent, will see an investment of close to Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years for capacity augmentation and development of new Greenfield airports. In the scrip specific developments, Techno Electric gained on entering into SPA to acquire 26% stake of KMTL. Besides, Hero MotoCorp surged on reporting 35% rise in Q4 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35036.80, down by 139.62 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 35020.08 and 35257.31. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 1.40%, while Small cap index was down by 1.27%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.34%, Capital Goods down by 1.75%, Industrials down by 1.57%, Healthcare down by 1.46% and FMCG was down by 1.29%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.28%, ICICI Bank up by 1.19%, Adani Ports up by 0.98%, NTPC up by 0.76% and HDFC was up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.85%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.79%, Yes Bank down by 1.74%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.72% and Larsen & Toubro was down by 1.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has said that foreign investors should develop state specific strategy for investments in India as it is diverse and offer many types of investment opportunities. He also said that impediments in bringing British universities in India should be addressed.

Kumar said “Just as you can’t have single strategy for Europe, so you can’t have one strategy for India. You should have state specific strategies. Koreans have focused on one or two states in India and they have succeeded.” He also emphasised that both India and the United Kingdom (UK) need to make more efforts in strengthening their relationship.

Advising investors from both countries to look at Sunrise industries, Niti Aayog’s Vice Chairman said that a whole startup ecosystem has come up in India, so UK should set up technological hub in India. Besides, he noted that India is the third largest investor in the UK and for all purpose the UK is the second largest investor in India. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10655.20, down by 62.85 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 10647.45 and 10720.60. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.04%, ICICI Bank up by 1.35%, Axis Bank up by 1.34%, NTPC up by 0.76% and HDFC was up by 0.75%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 7.16%, UPL down by 2.77%, Eicher Motors down by 2.45%, Cipla down by 2.24% and Bharti Airtel was down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng slipped 343.84 points or 1.12% to 30,380.04, Jakarta Composite fell 139.87 points or 2.33% to 5,872.37, Taiwan Weighted declined 104.63 points or 0.99% to 10,514.18 and KOSPI Index was down by 15.66 points or 0.62% to 2,489.95.

On the other hand, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 4.16 points or 0.22% to 1,856.19, Shanghai Composite was up by 15.49 points or 0.5% to 3,096.66