Massacre continues on Dalal Street; Sensex plunges 843 points

Massacre continued on the Dalal Street in the early noon session with Sensex and Nifty falling 843 and 250 points respectively.  Barring oil & gas sector all the other indices on the BSE were trading in red. Metal and Realty stocks were the top drags, followed by Basic Materials, IT and Bankex. SBI, Tata Steel, Infosys, Indusind Bank and HDFC were the top contributors to the Sensex’s fall. Besides, all the sectoral indices on the Nifty were trading in red with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal being the top losers. Shares of information technology (IT) companies were trading in red ahead of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) financial results for the quarter ended September (Q2FY19). Meanwhile, negative global cues, falling rupee and rising crude prices also dampened the sentiments. Broader markets were also trading in red terrain, with Mid cap and Small cap index falling around 2%. Some concerns came with a private report stating that the refund of IGST worth Rs 8,000 crore and ITC worth Rs 15,000 crore are yet to be paid to exporters and it is causing a liquidity problem.  Investors remained cautious with a report stating that private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) investments in India declined 23 percent to $ 6.7 billion in the third quarter of this year as investors adopted a cautious approach. 

On the global front, all the Asian markets were trading under pressure, following the skid on Wall Street. Chinese stocks were down putting mainland indexes at fresh multiyear lows. Back on the domestic turf, the market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2357 stocks traded, 582 stocks advanced, while 1663 stocks declined and 112 stocks remained unchanged on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33917.84, down by 843.05 points or 2.43% after trading in a range of 33723.53 and 34063.82. There were 1 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 2.21%, while Small cap index down by 1.90%.

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Oil & Gas up by 0.20%, while Metal down by 3.51%, Realty down by 3.45%, Basic Materials down by 3.13%, IT down by 3.01%, Bankex down by 2.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The lone gainer on the Sensex was ONGC up by 1.24%. On the flip side, SBI down by 5.65%, Tata Steel down by 4.99%, Infosys down by 3.26%, Indusind Bank down by 3.14% and HDFC down by 3.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to give relief to the aviation industry, the government has slashed the excise duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to 11% from 14% earlier. This comes almost a week after the government announced a cut in excise duty of petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre. As per the Revenue Department notification, the duty change would come into force with effect from the October 11, 2018.

Jet fuel prices during October 2018 hit their highest level since January 2014 as rising international oil prices and plummeting rupee value pushed rates. The fuel in Delhi currently costs Rs 74,567 per kilolitre (Rs 74.56 per litre) and in Mumbai, it is priced at Rs 74,177 per kilolitre. The aviation industry has been seeking lower taxes to help offset the impact of high oil prices.

Notably, the aviation ministry has been pitching for inclusion of ATF in the goods and services tax (GST) regime, stating that the move will help cut the cost as airlines would get input tax credit. Airlines, which are making a persistent demand for this, maintain that they would get an annual relief of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 crore if ATF is included in GST.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10209.70, down by 250.40 points or 2.39% after trading in a range of 10138.60 and 10219.55. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 5.70%, Zee Entertainment up by 3.57%, BPCL up by 2.09%, Indian Oil up by 1.77% and ONGC up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing down by 8.29%, SBI down by 5.83%, Bajaj Finserv down by 5.50%, Tata Steel down by 4.85% and Hindalco down by 4.72% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng decreased 1012.960 points or 4.02% to 25,180.11, Taiwan Weighted plunged 660.72 points or 6.74% to 9,806.11, Jakarta Composite declined 106.17 points or 1.86% to 5,714.50, Nikkei 225 slipped 915.18 points or 4.05% to 22,590.86, Shanghai Composite fell 132.24 points or 5.1% to 2,593.60, Straits Times decreased 89.80 points or 2.95% to 3,041.68 and KOSPI was down 92.32 points or 4.32% to 2,136.29.