Benchmarks trade lower in early deals

Pressurized by weak global cues, Indian equity benchmarks made a pessimistic start and are trading with a cut of around quarter a percent. Sentiments remained downbeat with NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s statement that India needs to cut down on oil imports and switch towards electric mobility, and stressed on the Centre’s focus towards urban mobility. Traders shrugged off Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu’s statement that with phenomenal changes in social and economic sector reforms, India will become a five-trillion-dollar economy in seven years from the present 2.6 trillion dollars. Market participants failed to get any sense of relief with report that India and the US on September 6, pledged to expand their bilateral trade and economic partnership with a view to promoting investment and job creation.

Global cues too remained sluggish, with most of the Asian counters trading in red at this point of time, as investors feared a new round of Sino-US tariffs could come at any moment, while a slump in US chip stocks rippled through the tech sector. The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday with technology shares falling on worries about government regulation and uncertain demand in some segments.

Back home, public sector banks (PSBs) stocks remained in focus with report that a parliamentary committee has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to relax the capital-adequacy norms for at least nine out of 21 PSBs that may free up capital up to Rs 5.34 trillion, helping the expansion of lenders. Tyre sector stocks remained buzzing with ICRA’s report that expected decline in the Indian natural rubber (NR) output by 18 to 20% this fiscal year will adversely impact the tyre industry. It has cited the flood in Kerala due to unusually high rainfall as the cause for the sharp fall in NR which accounts for 35% of the overall input costs in the manufacture of tyres.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38091.82, down by 150.99 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 38067.22 and 38331.19. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.39%, Oil & Gas up by 0.35%, Energy up by 0.32%, Industrials up by 0.23% and Metal was up by 0.18%, while Healthcare down by 1.09%, Bankex down by 0.93%, Power down by 0.52%, Utilities down by 0.37% and PSU was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.83%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.04%, Tata Motors up by 2.00%, Coal India up by 1.27% and Wipro up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.46%, Yes Bank down by 2.94%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.98%, ICICI Bank down by 1.48% and SBI down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing confidence on the growth of the Indian economy, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu has said that India will become a $5 trillion economy in seven years from the present 2.6 trillion dollars, with phenomenal changes in social and economic sector reforms. He also said that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 8.2% in the Q1FY19 will be consolidated and continue going forward and India would certainly become a $10 trillion economy by 2035.

In order to boost growth, Prabhu said that the government has prepared a multi-sectoral strategy besides the reforms and improving the ease of doing business. He said a new industrial policy is on the anvil with dual focus on modernizing existing businesses and getting new and futuristic businesses into the economy, for which 12 champion service sectors have been identified for systematic promotion.

The Minister expressed hope that the ‘Make In India’ initiative will become an even bigger success in the future and said ‘Start-ups are the best laboratory for change and innovation. We already have around 20,000 start-ups registered with DIPP and are promoting in a major way across the country.’ On the agriculture and horticulture growth, he said the government aims to double the income of farmers by 2022, while the country notched the highest export growth in the past six years in FY18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11510.50, down by 26.40 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 11484.40 and 11558.25. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 2.85%, Tata Motors up by 2.41%, Wipro up by 1.25%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.17% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 4.47%, Yes Bank down by 2.45%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.78%, SBI down by 1.30% and ICICI Bank down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 230.60 points or 1.04% to 22,257.34, Taiwan Weighted decreased 81.93 points or 0.76% to 10,842.37, Straits Times shed 23.72 points or 0.76% to 3,123.97, Hang Seng fell 230.69 points or 0.86% to 26,744.13, KOSPI dropped 14.16 points or 0.62% to 2,273.45 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.46 points or 0.13% to 2,688.13. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 22.73 points or 0.39% to 5,798.83.