Sensex, Nifty hover near day’s low

Key Indian benchmarks extended their losses in late afternoon session to hover near their intraday low points, with Sensex and the Nifty falling around 200 and 65 points, respectively. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices too performed sluggish in late noon deals. Besides, banking index remained top loser on the BSE with intense selling witnessed in the stocks like ICICI Bank, SBI and Yes Bank. Domestic sentiments weakened with a private report stating that the June policy review meeting is likely to be a close call, while the tone of the policy statement is expected to remain hawkish. The markets participants paid no heed towards report that the Finance Ministry has clarified applicability of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on farmers. It has said that support services like renting or leasing of land by farmers for agriculture, forestry, fishing or animal husbandry are exempt from the ambit of new indirect tax. Traders failed to get relief from report that southwest monsoon hit Kerala, three days before its scheduled arrival. The IMD has made a forecast of ‘normal’ rainfall this season.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, amid renewed fears of a euro zone break-up risk in Italy and political turmoil in Spain. Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) traded jubilantly after the company reported over 2 fold rise in its net profit at Rs 457.17 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 as compared to Rs 215.55 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34967.65, down by 197.83 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 34966.47 and 35234.14. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.59%, while Small cap index was down by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.42%, Telecom up by 0.41%, IT up by 0.29%, Oil & Gas up by 0.27% and Capital Goods up by 0.27%, while Bankex down by 1.60%, Realty down by 0.88%, Consumer Durables down by 0.86%, Healthcare down by 0.78% and PSU down by 0.63% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.49%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.08%, TCS up by 0.75%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.64% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.54%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.21%, SBI down by 2.98%, Yes Bank down by 2.13%, Indusind Bank down by 2.06% and Asian Paints down by 2.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, few days ahead of the release of fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has expressed confidence that the Indian economy is likely to grow between 7.3% to 7.5% in Q4FY18 and about 6.7% during the fiscal year 2017-18.

Besides, soothing some worries about record high fuel prices, Garg said that the central government is all set to announce a long-term solution to the oil price crisis. However, he noted that it is not possible for the government to take a hurried decision on a plan to tackle the rising prices, as its import bill rises by between $1-$1.5 billion for ever $1 increase in the oil bill for the year.

Economic Affairs Secretary also assured that the Reserve Bank of India would look to stabilise the rupee and weed out volatility in the currency market, adding that the central bank was not working with any set target for the rupee. He also highlighted that if oil prices declined and the rupee appreciated, a moderation in bond yields could be expected and that a reversal of negative flows will lead to further moderation in bond yields.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10624.70, down by 63.95 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 10623.40 and 10717.25. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 1.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.42%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.00%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.91% and BPCL up by 0.82%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 3.56%, SBI down by 3.07%, Yes Bank down by 2.40%, Asian Paints down by 2.19% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.16% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng plunged by 307.68 points or 1% to 30,484.58, Nikkei 225 decreased 122.66 points or 0.55% to 22,358.43, Taiwan Weighted dipped 23.65 points or 0.22% to 10,964.12, KOSPI Index decreased 21.71 points or 0.88% to 2,457.25 and Shanghai Composite was down 14.62 points or 0.47% to 3,120.46.

All the European Markets were trading in red; Germany’s DAX fell 249.92 points or 1.94% to 12,613.54, France’s CAC lost 118.83 points or 2.16% to 5,390.10 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 106.56 points or 1.38% to 7,623.72.