Indian bourses continue to trade under pressure

Indian bourses continued their weak trade in afternoon session, in line with Asian peers, as global trade tensions intensified. The mood of the markets remain impacted by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that global trade is facing headwinds and these challenges are needed to be tackled properly to boost world economy. He also said that 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. The market participants overlooked Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government is hopeful of achieving double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the country by the fourth quarter of the ongoing financial year. He stated that there is a demand uptick in the economy and India is a market place of billions of aspirational consumers. In the sectoral space, all stocks were trading in the red.  In the currency front, rupee dropped sharply by 25 paise to 68.23 per dollar in early trade amid gains in the US currency in global markets. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as U.S. 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 home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35340.61, down by 207.65 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 35329.58 and 35552.47. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.04%, while Small cap index was down by 1.08%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 1.70%, Basic Materials down by 1.52%, Metal down by 1.46%, Power down by 1.21% and IT down by 1.17%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 0.71%, ONGC up by 0.64%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.46%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.22% and Asian Paints up by 0.18%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.76%, SBI down by 2.29%, Infosys down by 1.86%, Wipro down by 1.69% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, considering the uptick in demand, Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has said the government is hopeful of achieving double-digit gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the country by the fourth quarter of the ongoing financial year. He stated that there is a demand uptick in the economy and India is a market place of billions of aspirational consumers.

The minister Further said “I think the government has been trying to make it easier to do business and when this country becomes a nation of honest businesses, then a 10% plus growth is a given for us.” He also said that the several measures were taken by the government to promote the ease of doing business and maintain stability of the economy.

Besides, Goyal said that the government is committed to meeting fiscal deficit at 3.3% in the financial year 2019. There will not be a spending cut to meet the target as the government has enough alternative resources for planned expenditure. Fiscal deficit stood at 3.53% of the GDP, broadly in line with the government’s revised estimates for 2017-18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10731.70, down by 68.15 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 10724.25 and 10789.45. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were GAIL India up by 1.89%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.17%, HDFC Bank up by 0.88%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.55% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.53%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 2.84%, Hindalco down by 2.75%, Indian Oil Corp. down by 2.73%, Vedanta down by 2.73% and HPCL down by 2.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 401.85 points or 1.80% to 22,278.48, Hang Seng tumbled 903.77 points or 3.07% to 29,405.72, Taiwan Weighted dropped 183.28 points or 1.68% to 10,904.19, Shanghai Composite crumbled 142.11 points or 4.93% to 2,879.79, KOSPI was down by 36.13 points or 1.54% to 2,340.11 and Straits Times shed 5.55 points or 0.17% to 3,318.49.