Sensex, Nifty extend fall; Metal loses shine

Key Indian benchmarks extended their fall in late afternoon session, with Sensex losing more than 150 points, despite firm cues from European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader markets were too crumbling under pressure, while Metal index declined the most with the losses of over 2%. The laggards like Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever and Vedanta also dragged the key indices down in late noon deals. Traders remained concerned with a private study report pointing out discrepancies in FDI data and also suggested that the RBI should regenerate foreign fund inflows and outflows data with detailed information at least for the past five years with a view to providing a more realistic picture of overseas investments. The street failed to take support with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Rakesh Bharti Mittal’s statement that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 7.5% plus in the last quarter was a very healthy and positive sign for Indian economy. On the sectoral front, airlines stocks were trading lower, despite DGCA’s date report showing that the domestic air passenger traffic registered a growth of 18.36% in the month of June 2018. As per report, domestic airlines flew 113.25 lakh passengers in June, over to 95.68 lakh passengers carried in the same period last year.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as encouraging US data and upbeat comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell helped bolster investor confidence in the world's largest economy. Sentiment also remained supported after UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday narrowly avoided a defeat in parliament over future trade links with the European Union. In economic releases, inflation data from the UK and Eurozone are due later in the day. Asian markets were also trading in green, on improved risk appetite as the yen weakened and oil prices recovered some ground overnight after recent selloff on concerns that a global trade war could dampen demand. Back home, in scrip specific development, NIIT Technologies surged on reporting a rise of 29.17% in its net profit at Rs 135.50 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to Rs 104.90 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36364.93, down by 155.03 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 36320.92 and 36747.87. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.96%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.32% and Energy up by 0.25%, while Metal down by 2.65%, Realty down by 1.98%, Telecom down by 1.79%, Basic Materials down by 1.56% and Auto down by 1.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 4.42%, HDFC up by 1.06%, Asian Paints up by 0.88%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.50% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.92%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.66%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.25%, Vedanta down by 2.64% and Tata Motors down by 2.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the air travel demand in India continues to be high with the domestic air passenger traffic registering a growth of 18.36% in the month of June 2018. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 113.25 lakh passengers in June, over to 95.68 lakh passengers carried in the same period last year.

The data report also showed that the domestic air passenger count has rose 21.95% during January-June 2018. Indian airlines carried 684.83 lakh passengers during period under review as against 561.55 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year. Besides, in terms of passenger load factor (PLF), SpiceJet were leading among all with 93.3% PLF during the month of June 2018, followed by Go Air (88.6%) and IndiGo (88.3%).

In terms of on time performance (OTP), IndiGo has taken again lead from the rest with 84.1% of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule from four metro airports, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, followed by SpiceJet (81.2%) and Jet Airways+JetLite (78.8%). During June 2018, a total of 677 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of June 2018 has been around 0.60.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10973.85, down by 34.20 points or 0.31% 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 ONGC up by 4.39%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 4.08%, BPCL up by 2.65%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.95% and HPCL up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.99%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.19%, Hindalco down by 3.05%, Vedanta down by 2.74% and UPL down by 2.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 gained 96.83 points or 0.42% to 22,794.19, Taiwan Weighted increased 63.47 points or 0.59% to 10,842.46, Straits Times was up by 7.07 points or 0.22% to 3,246.71 and Jakarta Composite surged 11.60 points or 0.2% to 5,873.11. On the flip side, KOSPI decreased 7.81 points or 0.34% to 2,290.11, Hang Seng fell 64.26 points or 0.23% to 28,117.42 and Shanghai Composite was down by 9.69 points or 0.35% to 2,788.44.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 45.02 points or 0.59% to 7,671.35, France’s CAC increased 22.86 points or 0.42% to 5,445.40 and Germany’s DAX increased 85.98 points or 0.67% to 12,747.52.