Indian equities continue weak trade; Metal stocks fall

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in afternoon session, on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. The mood on the street remained cautious ahead of index of industrial production (IIP) data for June scheduled to be released today. Some anxiety remained among the local traders with data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) showing that 39 percent of the 681 districts in India have received less than normal rainfall in the week ended August 8. Besides, fall in rupee value against dollar along with a weak trend at other Asian markets also dented the trading sentiments. However, further fall got restricted, following the Lok Sabha passing four bills to amend the GST law, as Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said lower tax rates will improve compliance and enhance revenue collection. He said tax collection will not come down despite reduction in taxes as he allayed the concerns to that effect raised by some members and added that the lower rates will rather improve compliance and enhance revenue collection.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red; following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street amid rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China as well as the U.S. introduction of new sanctions on Russia. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37914.52, down by 109.85 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 37875.71 and 38051.45. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.24%, while Small cap index down by 0.30%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.68%, Realty up by 0.57%, Auto up by 0.49%, Consumer Disc up by 0.36%, FMCG up by 0.13% while, Metal down by 1.06%, PSU down by 0.91%, Utilities down by 0.83%, Power down by 0.72%, Energy down by 0.70% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.01%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.34%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.24%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.21% and ITC up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma  down by 2.75%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.88%, SBI down by 1.85%, Coal India down by 1.82% and Tata Motors down by 1.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha stated that an amount of Rs 268.10 crore has been collected as levy from various airlines towards the regional air connectivity scheme or UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) till August 3, 2018. He also said that all scheduled airline operators have been remitting the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) levy.

Sinha noted that the scheme seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable for the people. To fund the scheme, he said an amount of Rs 5,000 is collected from airlines on every flight operated on major routes. He also said that no revenue has been earned by the Regional Air Connectivity Fund Trust (RACFT) under the scheme except for deposits of RCS levy.

The minister further stated that the Tourism Ministry has requested for introduction of ‘cities/ towns/ places of tourist importance’ under the scheme. He also said that many routes awarded under UDAN are already operational. He added that Deccan Air and Air Odisha stopped their services in four sectors due to technical snag and slot allocation issues.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11437.65, down by 33.05 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 11426.50 and 11478.75. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 4.57%, Yes Bank up by 2.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.41%, Titan Co up by 1.32% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.90%, SBI down by 2.19%, Tata Motors down by 1.84%, ICICI Bank down by 1.82% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.74% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 279.06 points or 0.99% to 28,328.24, KOSPI dipped 20.92 points or 0.92% to 2,282.79, Straits Times dropped 43.13 points or 1.31% to 3,283.61, Nikkei 225 shed 300.31 points or 1.35% to 22,298.08 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 44.39 points or 0.4% to 10,983.68.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 0.56 points or 0.02% to 2,794.94 and Jakarta Composite rose 28.14 points or 0.46% to 6,093.40.