Key gauges continue sluggish trend

Key equity benchmarks continued their sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of around half a percent. Traders remained concerned with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that global trade is facing headwinds due to the US decision to impose high import duties on certain steel and aluminium products have led to a trade war kind of situation, with other countries too raising their tariff walls. These challenges are needed to be tackled properly to boost world economy. Besides, senior trade officials from India and the US will hold a crucial meeting on June 26 to hammer out solutions to contentious trade issues, including the additional duty slapped by the Trump administration on Indian steel and aluminium. Traders failed to get any sense of relief from Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government is committed to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3% for the current fiscal. The government will maintain stability in the economy and meet all economic parameters fixed by the government. Traders also overlooked President Ram Nath Kovind’s statement that India is striving to become a $5 trillion economy and the world’s third largest consumer market by 2025.

On the global front, Asian market were trading mostly in red, as US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s two biggest economies that has rattled financial markets. Back on domestic turf, in scrip specific development,    Cords Cable Industries soared on bagging order worth Rs 47.20 crore. Besides, Strides Shasun gained with wholly owned subsidiary -- Strides Pharma Global getting approval for Ketoconazole Tablets.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35379.11, down by 169.15 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 35379.11 and 35552.47. 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 by 0.44%, while Small cap index was down by 0.39%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.51% and Telecom was up by 0.35%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.00%, Energy down by 0.91%, Basic Materials down by 0.89%, Power down by 0.89% and IT was down by 0.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 0.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.71%, ONGC up by 0.46%, Tata Steel up by 0.44% and Asian Paints was up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.32%, Infosys down by 1.78%, Wipro down by 1.37%, NTPC down by 1.18% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the credit of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) recorded sequential (Q-o-Q) growth of 3.4 percent in Q3 (October-December) of 2017-18, on the back of better performance by private sector banks and an uptick in industrial credit after moderating for two successive quarters.

According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), bank’s credit stood at Rs 80.62 trillion in Q3FY18 as compared to Rs 77.95 trillion reported in the preceding quarter. It noted that the growth was broad-based across all population groups as well as for all major occupations. It also indicated that among bank groups, private sector banks continued to grow in double rate in their loan portfolio and led the overall credit growth.

The report further highlighted that private banks' credit offtake grew 4.88 percent in the December 2017 quarter, while public sector banks loans rose much lower by 2.96 percent. It showed that credit to the household sector recorded sustained growth and its share in total credit stood at 47.3 percent. It added that the weighted average lending rate moderated by 18 basis points during the quarter and stood at 10.44 percent at end December.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10742.45, down by 57.40 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 10741.65 and 10789.45. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 1.42%, Lupin up by 1.36%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.30%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.89% and Bharti Airtel was up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corporation down by 3.11%, HPCL down by 2.95%, BPCL down by 2.86%, Vedanta down by 2.28% and Infosys was down by 1.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 298.22 points or 1.33% to 22,382.11, Hang Seng tumbled 659.44 points or 2.22% to 29,650.05, Taiwan Weighted dropped 146.86 points or 1.34% to 10,940.61, Shanghai Composite crumbled 89.82 points or 3.06% to 2,932.08 and KOSPI was down by 18.10 points or 0.77% to 2,358.14. On the flip side, Straits Times gained 7.28 points or 0.22% to 3,331.32.