Key gauges continue to reel under pressure

Indian equity benchmarks continued to reel under pressure in late morning deals on concerns about government formation in Karnataka, where no party got a clear majority in election results on Tuesday. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka with 104 seats, even as it fell short of the majority mark of 112. Sentiments also remained dampened on report that India’s trade deficit slightly widened to $13.72 billion in April from $13.25 billion a year ago. Exports grew by 5.17% to $25.91 billion in April compared to the same month last year on account of healthy performance by engineering, chemicals and pharmaceutical segments. Imports too grew by 4.60% to $39.63 billion in the month on yearly basis. However, markets trimmed some of their initial losses with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu pitching for inclusion of the trade facilitation pact on services in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) saying it would help promote growth of the global economy.

Global cues remained subdued with most of the Asian counters trading in red terrain after North Korea cancelled high-level talks with Seoul and threatened to scrap a historic summit next month between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Back home, selling in sectors like oil and gas and energy too dragging benchmarks lower. In scrip specific developments, M&M inched up with arm entering into agreement to form JVC and NTPC gained on signing MoU with Government of Bihar, Bihar Power Utilities.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35379.03, down by 164.91 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 35241.63 and 35452.35. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.30%, while Small cap index down by 0.17%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.61%, IT up by 0.25%, TECK up by 0.12% and FMCG was up by 0.01%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.51%, Energy down by 1.44%, PSU down by 1.28%, Bankex down by 0.96% and Telecom was down by 0.67% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 1.24%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.83%, Yes Bank up by 0.75%, Tata Motors up by 0.64% and NTPC up by 0.50%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 2.60%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.43%, SBI down by 1.73%, Adani Ports down by 1.57% and Reliance Industries down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its annual flagship report titled ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2018: Greening with jobs’ has estimated that over 3 lakh workers will be employed directly in the solar and wind energy sectors in India to achieve the country’s target of 175 GW of installed renewable energy capacity well before 2022. It noted that to meet the target, the number of workers required by ground-mounted solar, rooftop solar and wind power projects, will need to increase. It pointed out that 24 million new jobs are expected to be created globally by 2030, if the right policies to promote a greener economy are put in place.

The report stated that the potential for employment creation is conditional on the domestic capacity of solar module manufacturing and the establishment of vocational training programmes and certification schemes. Besides, it said that India has made environmental sustainability a central objective of its development strategy in its twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-17) and set up a comprehensive framework for skills development for green transition at the national level, targeting key sectors and institutions like the Skills Council for Green Jobs was set up for the purpose in 2015. It pointed out that based on the identification of skills needs in these sectors, 26 new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) courses have been developed for occupations ranging from water treatment plant helper to solar project manager and improved cooking stove installer.

The UN labour agency has stated that India is rapidly increasing its share of renewable energy sources but still relies on coal, oil and natural gas and the related carbon emissions for 80 percent of its electricity. It predicts that the transition to a green economy will also lead to the loss of six million jobs in industries that are heavily reliant on carbon-based production. It added that only two petroleum related sectors namely extraction and refining would see substantial losses of jobs running to more than a million.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10742.60, down by 59.25 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 10699.70 and 10764.80. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Lupin up by 1.76%, Wipro up by 1.18%, Yes Bank up by 0.82%, Tata Motors up by 0.77% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.42%, ICICI Bank down by 2.69%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.66%, HPCL down by 2.30% and Hero MotoCorp down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 100.79 points or 0.44% to 22,717.23, Hang Seng slipped 80.46 points or 0.26% to 31,071.57, Jakarta Composite declined 78.11 points or 1.34% to 5,760.00 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.42 points or 0.33% to 3,181.70.

On the flip side, KOSPI Index increased 2.42 points or 0.1% to 2,460.96, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI gained 6.33 points or 0.34% to 1,854.53 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 22.84 points or 0.21% to 10,897.57.