Sensex, Nifty remain sluggish

Indian equity benchmarks remained sluggish in late afternoon session, tracking weak European markets. Heavy selling at Telecom, PSU and Auto counters weighed on the domestic sentiments, while broader markets too remained under pressure, hovering below their neutral lines. Besides, losses led by major industry leaders like Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation and ONGC, were dragging the key indices down. The street got cautious with Former National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) president R Chandrashekhar’s statement that the economy could be disrupted if job growth was not constant. He added that the government statistics showed that nearly four million jobs in the formal sector were created from September 2017 to March 2018, of which about 50% were in the service sector. The market participants took note of a private report stating that FII flows have seen a bumpy ride so far this year, with a meagre investment of $15 million, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continue to invest more aggressively into the Indian equity market and have bought net assets worth $7.9 billion.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, amid looming threat of a full-blown trade war between the world's two largest economies. In response to US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on EU steel and aluminum, the European Union will start charging import duties of 25% on a range of US products on Friday. Asian markets were also trading in red. Back home, in scrip specific development, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) traded higher after the company bagged two major orders for emission control equipment from Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGENCO).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35477.35, down by 69.98 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 35433.23 and 35678.69. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.32%, while Small cap index was down by 0.53%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.11% and IT up by 0.10%, while Telecom down by 1.33%, PSU down by 1.12%, Auto down by 0.86%, Healthcare down by 0.79% and Capital Goods down by 0.77% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.96%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.04%, HDFC up by 0.91%, Reliance Industries up by 0.81% and Tata Motors up by 0.44%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.67%, Power Grid Corporation down by 2.30%, ONGC down by 2.24%, Asian Paints down by 1.68% and Sun Pharma down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in retaliation against the US’ new global tariffs on certain steel and aluminium products, Indian government has hiked customs duty on some agricultural and steel products that are imported from the US. The import duty hike will come into effect from August 4, 2018.

As per the Finance ministry latest notification, the import duty on chickpeas and Bengal gram has been increased to 60%, while that on lentils has been hiked to 30%, while boric acid and binders for foundry moulds will attract 7.5% duty. The duty on domestic reagents was raised to 10%. Further, importers will have to pay custom duty at the rate of 15% on artemia, a kind of shrimp.

Besides, the other products on which duties have been hiked include certain kind of nuts, iron and steel products, apples, pears, flat rolled products of stainless steel, other alloy steel, tube and pipe fittings, and screws, bolts and rivets. However, there was no duty hike on motorcycles imported from the US.

Earlier, India had submitted to the WTO a revised list of 30 items on which it proposed to raise customs duties by up to 50% and out of 30 items proposed, India has excluded motorbikes above 800 cc. Now additional customs duties have been imposed on 29 items.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10739.30, down by 32.75 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 10731.75 and 10809.60. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 1.62%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.13%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.01%, HDFC up by 0.84% and Reliance Industries up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.75%, ONGC down by 2.55%, Power Grid Corporation down by 2.41%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.27% and Asian Paints down by 1.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times declined 12.73 points or 0.39% to 3,303.17, Hang Seng decreased 400.12 points or 1.37% to 29,296.05, KOSPI shed 26.08 points or 1.12% to 2,337.83, Jakarta Composite slipped 54.09 points or 0.93% to 5,829.95 and Shanghai Composite was down by 40.12 points or 1.40% to 2,875.61. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted rose 13.63 points or 0.12% to 10,941.07 and Nikkei 225 was up by 137.61 points or 0.61% to 22,693.04.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX decreased 62.35 points or 0.49% to 12,632.81, France’s CAC was down by 9.94 points or 0.19% to 5,362.37 and UK’s FTSE 100 surged 18.07 points or 0.24% to 7,645.47.