Bears tighten grip on Dalal Street

Bears tighten grip on the Indian markets in late afternoon session, with both the larger peers, Sensex and Nifty falling more than a percent, despite firm opening in European markets. Domestic sentiments remained dampened as total liabilities (including liabilities under the ‘Public Account’) of the Government increased by 2.33% during first quarter of the current fiscal. As per provisional data released by Ministry of Finance, total liabilities surged to Rs 79,80,667 crore at end-June 2018 from Rs 77,98,772 crore at end-March 2018. Besides, major industry losers like Sun Pharma, Vedanta and Indusind Bank, weighted on the trade. Heavy selling at FMCG and Energy stocks along with weak Asian markets, were too contributing to the losses. Traders failed to take any sense of relief with a private report stating that India's inflation likely eased below the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target in August on softer food prices, raising the probability the central bank will keep interest rates on hold at its next rate review. The street even overlooked Economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s statement that the government will ensure fiscal deficit target is not breached.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as the euro area economy expanded as initially estimated in the second quarter. The data from Eurostat showed that gross domestic product climbed 0.4% sequentially, the same rate as seen in the first quarter and in line with preliminary estimate. Asian markets were trading in red, after a report showed China's trade surplus with the US widened to a record in August, adding to the trade tensions. Back home, in scrip specific development, Som Distilleries & Breweries gained after the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Woodpecker Distilleries & Breweries commenced operating the canning lines for beer from its Hassan facility.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37983.00, down by 406.82 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 37967.08 and 38354.52. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.45%, while Small cap index was down by 0.89%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.46% and TECK up by 0.28%, while FMCG down by 1.58%, Energy down by 1.55%, Oil & Gas down by 1.50%, Realty down by 1.45% and Metal down by 1.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.26%, Yes Bank up by 0.79%, Infosys up by 0.76%, Tata Motors up by 0.61% and Wipro up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.22%, Vedanta down by 2.94%, Indusind Bank down by 2.67%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.67% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, total liabilities (including liabilities under the ‘Public Account’) of the Government increased by 2.33% during first quarter of the current fiscal. As per provisional data released by Ministry of Finance, total liabilities surged to Rs 79,80,667 crore at end-June 2018 from Rs 77,98,772 crore at end-March 2018.
According to the data report, public debt accounted for 89.3% of total outstanding liabilities in Q1 with internal debt accounting for 83.0% of its share. Nearly 24.9% of the outstanding dated securities had a residual maturity of less than 5 years. Besides, the holding pattern indicates a share of 42.7% for commercial banks and 23.5% for insurance companies by end-March 2018.

The report also showed that G-Sec yields have shown a hardening trend in Q1 FY19 with the increase in weighted average yield of primary issuances to 7.76% from 7.34% since the last quarter reflecting the impact of both global and domestic developments such as increase in crude oil prices, rate hike by the US Federal Reserve, rising geo-political tensions, weak Rupee, rise in CPI, demand-supply imbalance for shorter-tenor securities in the country and weak demand from FPIs. Further, during Q1 FY19, the Central Government issued dated securities worth Rs 1,44,000 crore in 12 tranches as against Rs 1,68,000 crore in Q1 FY18.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11447.00, down by 142.10 points or 1.23% after trading in a range of 11447.00 and 11573.00. There were 7 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining, while 1 index remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 1.44%, Axis Bank up by 0.90%, Infosys up by 0.66%, Cipla up by 0.53% and Yes Bank up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.29%, Bajaj Finserv down by 4.26%, Sun Pharma down by 3.59%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 3.34% and BPCL down by 3.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted plunged 121.19 points or 1.13% to 10,725.80, Hang Seng declined 360.05 points or 1.35% to 26,613.42, Straits Times fell 15.93 points or 0.51% to 3,118.46, Shanghai Composite lost 32.81 points or 1.23% to 2,669.49 and Jakarta Composite decreased 23.51 points or 0.4% to 5,827.96. On the flip side, KOSPI increased 7.08 points or 0.31% to 2,288.66 and Nikkei 225 was up by 66.03 points or 0.3% to 22,373.09.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 11.48 points or 0.16% to 7,289.18, France’s CAC rose 7.23 points or 0.14% to 5,259.45 and Germany’s DAX was up 3.01 points or 0.03% to 11,962.64.