Feeble global cues drag markets lower in morning deals

Pressurized by feeble global cues, Indian equity benchmarks started the session on a pessimistic note and are trading with marginal losses in early deals. Traders took note of RBI’s data showing that India Inc raised $2.71 billion through external commercial borrowing (ECB) and rupee-denominated bonds (RDBs) in June 2018, up by 66.3% over the same month last year. As per the data, Indian companies had raised $1.63 billion from overseas sources in June 2017. Traders remained cautious with report that corporate India’s business optimism index for the July-September quarter registered an 11.7% increase over last year, while on a quarter-on-quarter basis it has declined. However, losses remained capped with traders taking solace from Crisil’s report that India is much better placed than many other emerging market peers or compared to its own situation in 2013 during the taper tantrum, to tackle risks arising out of asymmetry in monetary policy of advanced economies, the rise in crude prices and the escalation of trade war tension.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red at this point of time, taking cues from the rout in global technology shares, while the yen edged higher ahead of the Bank of Japan's rate review, at which it could flag a shift away from its massive monetary stimulus. The US markets ended lower on Monday, as investors braced for a busy week of corporate earnings and central-bank meetings. 

Back home, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government is taking legislative as well as administrative measures for an integrated strategy to reduce logistics related hurdles for boosting domestic and global trade. In scrip specific developments,  Escorts surged on reporting 93% rise in Q1 net profit and Tech Mahindra was up by on reporting 12% rise in Q1 consolidated net profit, however, HDFC was trading lower despite reporting 54% rise in Q1 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37388.09, down by 106.31 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 37380.55 and 37534.95. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.68%, Utilities up by 0.43%, Consumer Durables up by 0.37%, Power up by 0.33% and Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services was up by 0.27%, while Metal down by 1.15%, Basic Materials down by 0.60%, Oil & Gas down by 0.53%, PSU down by 0.37% and Energy was down by 0.33% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.27%, NTPC up by 0.90%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.87%, Yes Bank up by 0.81% and Hero MotoCorp up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.54%, Tata Steel down by 1.56%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.43%, HDFC down by 1.27% and Tata Motors down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost domestic and global trade, Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government is taking legislative as well as administrative measures for an integrated strategy to reduce logistics related hurdles. He added that competitiveness and movement of goods has been impacted by high cost of logistics. Besides, the Indian logistics industry is estimated at around $215 billion, which is growing at over 10% annually.

Prabhu further said that the country should increase share in global trade and logistics plays a very important role in that. In order to reduce cost of exports, imports and domestic trade, he said that the ministry is preparing an integrated strategy and also developing a national logistics portal as a single window market place to link all stakeholders. He added that billions of dollars of investments are required to improve logistics sector.

The Department of Logistics, under the ministry, also inked a memorandum of understanding with Indian institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) to set up a center for logistics. The cost of logistics for India is about 14% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is far higher as compared to other countries. The newly created logistics department, headed by Special Secretary Binoy Kumar is working on these initiatives.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11299.20, down by 20.35 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 11284.15 and 11312.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.32%, NTPC up by 1.76%, HCL Tech up by 1.29%, Yes Bank up by 1.23% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.49%, Indiabulls Housing down by 2.37%, HPCL down by 2.09%, BPCL down by 1.86% and HDFC down by 1.53% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted slipped 15.91 points or 0.14% to 11,017.63, Jakarta Composite declined 98.34 points or 1.66% to 5,929.60, Hang Seng decreased 158.49 points or 0.55% to 28,574.64, KOSPI shed 2.58 points or 0.11% to 2,290.93 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.90 points or 0.03% to 2,868.15.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 increased 50.19 points or 0.22% to 22,595.03 and Straits Times was up by 5.65 points or 0.17% to 3,312.80.