Bourses turn negative in noon deals

Indian equities erased all gains and have turn negative in afternoon session after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted the no-confidence motion moved against the BJP Government on the first day of the Monsoon Session that began in Parliament on Wednesday. Some anxiety was also among the local traders with report that India’s import bill of crude oil and petroleum products swelled 57% to $12.73 billion in June as compared to the same month last year. In the sectoral landscape, all the indices except Oil & Gas and Energy were trading in the red. Metal stocks emerged to be the most-beaten down sector. However, losses were limited as some optimism remained among the traders with Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) president Rakesh Bharti Mittal’s statement that GDP growth at 7.5% plus was a very healthy and positive sign for Indian economy, noting that impact of sustained structural reforms is now being felt on the ground.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, tracking a Wall Street rally after the head of the Federal Reserve expressed confidence in the US economy despite fears of a global trade war.  Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36412.01, down by 107.95 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 36320.92 and 36747.87. 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 1.36%, while Small cap index was down by 0.87%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.98% and Energy up by 0.07%, while Metal down by 2.95%, Telecom down by 2.30%, Realty down by 1.80%, Basic Materials down by 1.75% and Power down by 1.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.07%, HDFC up by 1.20%, HDFC Bank up by 1.08%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.84% and Yes Bank up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.60%, Axis Bank down by 3.73%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.62%, Tata Motors down by 3.47% and Vedanta down by 3.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth remains quite robust into the future, despite marginally trimming the country’s growth projection for 2018 due to high oil prices and a tight monetary policy regime.

IMF has said that for India, the main factor behind the downgrade is the rise in oil prices, and the country is an oil importer. Apart from this, it said that the general tightening in global financial conditions is also playing a role in affecting India’s growth. It also said ‘It is a bit tighter than under our forecast in April. That adds to oil and tighter global financial conditions in taking a little bit off growth for next year’.

In its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update, IMF forecasted a growth rate of 7.3 percent in 2018 and 7.5 percent in 2019 for India, which was down by 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent respectively than its April projections.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10983.90, down by 24.15 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 10956.30 and 11076.20. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.85%, ONGC up by 3.78%, HDFC up by 1.28%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.16% and Eicher Motors up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 5.23%, Tata Motors down by 3.51%, Hindalco down by 3.49%, Vedanta down by 3.00% and Axis Bank down by 2.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted increased 63.47 points or 0.59% to 10,842.46, Jakarta Composite was up by 8.50 points or 0.14% to 5,870.01, Straits Times added 8.41 points or 0.26% to 3,248.05 and Nikkei 225 rose 96.83 points or 0.42% to 22,794.19.

On the flip side, Hang Seng decreased 82.89 points or 0.29% to 28,098.79, KOSPI was down by 7.81 points or 0.34% to 2,290.11 and Shanghai Composite shed 4.07 points or 0.15% to 2,794.06.