Key gauges witness choppy trading session; broader indices underperform

Altering between positive and negative terrain, Indian markets are now trading in red in the early noon session. Sentiments on the street were a little dull with a report highlighting that Global Innovation Index (GII) has ranked India comparatively low in some categories displaying weakness. India is still lagging in parameters of ease of starting a business, political stability and safety, and female employees with advanced degrees in the workforce. Besides, broader indices were underperforming their larger peers with Mid-cap index falling around half a percent and small cap losing around quarter a percent. Meanwhile, India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to $528 per tonne for 5 years on a Chinese polyester yarn used in automobile and other industries. However, losses remained capped as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said that performance of states in the ease of doing the business ranking by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) shows that over the last four years progress has been made in improving climate and the results are now visible. On the sectoral front, IT stocks were trading higher with a report stating that India slightly improved its rank in an index of the world’s most innovative economies, maintaining its position as the top exporter of IT services.

On the global front, US threats of tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods dragged Asian stocks lower. China led a regional stock market tumble, with its market falling more than 2 percent. Back home, in scrip specific development, Kridhan Infra gained with its associate company bagging orders worth Rs 74.2 crore and Shilpa Medicare surged on receiving EIR for API manufacturing facilities in Karnataka.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36193.53, down by 46.09 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 36169.70 and 36341.08. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.58%, while Small cap index down by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.00%, TECK up by 0.84%, FMCG up by 0.56% and Realty up by 0.45%, while Metal down by 2.56%, Basic Materials down by 1.27%, PSU down by 1.26%, Utilities down by 0.85% and Oil & Gas down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.75%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.34%, Axis Bank up by 1.10%, ITC up by 0.96% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.40%, Vedanta down by 3.23%, SBI down by 1.86%, Tata Motors down by 1.85% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that performance of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the ease of doing the business ranking by the World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) shows that over the previous four years significant progress has been made in improving climate and the results are now visible on the ground.

Andhra Pradesh, with a score of 98.42 percent, has topped the ease of doing business ranking among all states and UTs, while neighbouring Telegana has been ranked second with Haryana at the third spot. Others in the top ten are Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (5), Chhattisgarh (6), Madhya Pradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and West Bengal (10). Meghalaya was ranked last at 36th position.

CII President Rakesh Bharti Mittal has stated that the innovative partnership between the Central and state governments in a spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism to facilitate investments across the country is yielding notable results.  Besides, parameters on which the states and UTs are ranked include reforms they’ve undertaken and the feedback from the government they’ve incorporated in their policies. DIPP in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all states/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10935.20, down by 12.05 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 10923.00 and 10976.65. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 3.96%, TCS up by 2.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.42%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.23% and Axis Bank up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.65%, Vedanta down by 3.32%, Hindalco down by 3.10%, UPL down by 2.21% and GAIL India down by 1.96% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 264.68 points or 1.21% to 21,932.21, Hang Seng tumbled 483.73 points or 1.72% to 28,198.52, KOSPI plunged 14.55 points or 0.64% to 2,279.61, Shanghai Composite fell 65.21 points or 2.36% to 2,762.42, Taiwan Weighted declined 80.05 points or 0.75% to 10,676.84, Straits Times slipped 34.74 points or 1.07% to 3,240.09 and Jakarta Composite was down 19.11 points or 0.33% to 5,862.65.