Local equities continue weak trend; D-street cracks over 1%

Following weak global cues, local equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of over one percent each. Bharti Airtel, Vedanta and Adani Ports were the prime losers among heavy-weights, pushing Sensex lower. Weakness was also visible in the broader markets with the S&P BSE Mid-cap and the S&P BSE Small-cap indices losing over one percent each in trade. Investors remained on the sidelines on a private report stating that Indian financial markets’ liquidity position has worsened with cash deficit widening to about Rs 1.4 lakh crore this week compared with a small surplus in first week of October. Traders failed to get any sense of relief from a report stating that corporate India's business optimism for the October-December quarter improved marginally on expectations of higher festive season demand, implementation of the 7th Pay Commission awards and increase in minimum support price (MSP) of Kharif crops. Beside a private report state that China has removed the ban on exports of rapeseed meal from India, a move which will aid reduce the burgeoning trade deficit between the two countries.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after a punishing session on Wall Street that saw major US indices wipe out all their 2018 gains. Back home, on the sectoral front, Aviation stocks were trading on red terrain, despite global airlines' body IATA reported that India will become the world's third largest aviation market around 2024 surpassing the UK, as it projected total air passenger numbers to touch 8.2 billion in 2037.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33690.90, down by 343.06 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 33678.51 and 33807.93. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 1.15%, while Small cap index was down by 1.31%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.54%, Telecom down by 2.35%, Capital Goods down by 1.65%, Energy down by 1.65% and Basic Materials was down by 1.58%, while there were no gainer on the sectoral indices.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.52%, Wipro up by 0.68%, TCS up by 0.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.42% and ONGC was up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 4.66%, Vedanta down by 2.50%, Adani Ports down by 2.41%, Reliance Industries down by 2.25% and ICICI Bank was down by 2.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global airlines’ body the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in its 20-year air passenger forecast has stated that India will likely displace the UK to become the third largest aviation market in the world by around 2024. It also said that the present trends in air transport suggest passenger numbers could double to 8.2 billion in 2037.

However, the Association warned that growth prospects for air transport and the economic benefits driven by aviation could be curtailed if protectionist measures are implemented by governments. Besides, it pointed out that the Asia-Pacific region will drive the biggest growth with more than half the total number of new passengers in the next 20 years coming from these markets. It noted that the growth is being driven by a combination of continued robust economic growth, improvements in household incomes and favourable population and demographic profiles.

According to the IATA, China will become the largest aviation market, displacing the United States in the mid-2020s. It also said that India will take 3rd place after the US, surpassing the UK around 2024 and Indonesia is forecast to be a standout performer - climbing from the world's 10th largest aviation market in 2017 to the 4th largest by 2030. It added that aviation market is defined in terms of traffic to, from and within a country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10120.30, down by 104.45 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 10115.65 and 10159.55. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.77%, Wipro up by 0.92%, TCS up by 0.85%, HCL Tech up by 0.62% and Indian Oil Corporation was up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 7.07%, Bharti Airtel down by 4.54%, UPL down by 4.01%, Adani Ports down by 2.63% and Eicher Motors was down by 2.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI slipped 43.56 points or 2.12% to 2,054.02, Taiwan Weighted declined 218.08 points or 2.29% to 9,541.32, Nikkei 225 dropped 798.01 points or 3.75% to 21,293.17, Straits Times fell 32.68 points or 1.09% to 2,999.40, Hang Seng lost 517.06 points or 2.09% to 24,732.72 and Shanghai Composite was down by 37.09 points or 1.45% to 2,566.21.

On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was up by 2.15 points or 0.04% to 5,711.57.