Bears tighten grip on Dalal Street; Sensex breaches 33,500 mark

Bears tightened their grip on Dalal Street on first day of new F&O series with frontline gauges breaching their crucial 33,500 (Sensex) and 10,050 (Nifty) levels. Markets made a gap-down start and are trading with a cut of almost one percent in early deals as traders remain concerned with the Controller General of Accounts’ (CGA) data showing that the fiscal deficit of the Central government has widened in the first half of 2018-19 to 95.3% of the Budget Estimate (BE), mainly on account of slow growth in revenue collections. The deficit was at 91.3% of BE at September-end of the last financial year. Traders took note of India ratings’ report that the rupee may average at 69.79 to the dollar in the second half, down 8.3% from the first half if the monetary authority props it up by mobilising at least $30 billion from NRIs as it has done in 2013. It added that the rupee is the worst-performing emerging market currency losing over 15 percent year-to-date.

Regional cues too remained dismal with all the Asian markets trading in red at this point of time as trade tensions and geopolitical worries kept investors from tracking a rebound on Wall Street, with observers warning of further volatility to come. However, the US markets recovered from a tumble in the previous session and ended higher on Thursday on strong results from major companies including Microsoft and Visa.

Back home, traders paid no heed towards Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that the government will soon come out with a new agri export policy which would have provisions for setting up agro specific zones to boost outbound shipments. In scrip specific developments, TVS Motor gained on unveiling three new models, while Yes bank declined on reporting 4% fall in Q2 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33444.51, down by 245.58 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 33332.10 and 33776.80. There were 5 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.19%, while Small cap index was down by 1.09%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Power down by 1.90%, Metal down by 1.84%, Utilities down by 1.72%, Realty down by 1.36% and PSU was down by 1.35%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.78%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.74%, Reliance Industries up by 0.64%, Tata Steel up by 0.49% and Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.67%, NTPC down by 3.74%, Vedanta down by 1.93%, Asian Paints down by 1.92% and Coal India down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid concerns over the government may miss its deficit target of 3.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in its latest data showed that the central government’s fiscal deficit widened in the first half (H1) of current fiscal year (2018-19). Fiscal deficit was 95.3% of the Budget Estimate (BE) in the first six months (April-September) of FY19, mainly on account of slow growth in revenue collections. The deficit was at 91.3% of BE at September-end of the last financial year. The fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 is Rs 6.24 lakh crore.

The CGA said in actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the total expenditure and receipts was Rs 5.94 lakh crore during April-September this fiscal. According to the data, the tax collection (net) at September-end of 2018-19 was Rs 5.82 lakh crore, or 39.4%, of BE. It was 44.2% of the BE in September-end last fiscal.

The total receipts of the government during April-September 2018 were Rs 7.09 lakh crore, or 39%, of BE, compared to 40.6% in the same period of 2017-18. The CGA data also showed that total expenditure during April-September 2018 was Rs 13.04 lakh crore or 53.4% of BE. The capital expenditure was Rs 1.62 lakh crore or 54.2% of BE.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10038.25, down by 86.65 points or 0.86% after trading in a range of 10004.55 and 10122.35. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.78%, Titan Company up by 0.84%, Tata Steel up by 0.60%, GAIL India up by 0.57% and Reliance Industries up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.47%, Indiabulls Housing down by 4.77%, NTPC down by 3.85%, Hindalco down by 3.64% and Indian Oil down by 3.32% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 declined 236.28 points or 1.12% to 21,032.45, Taiwan Weighted decreased 85.41 points or 0.91% to 9,435.38, Straits Times tumbled 50.89 points or 1.72% to 2,961.95, Jakarta Composite slipped 5.07 points or 0.09% to 5,749.90, Hang Seng fell 351.53 points or 1.43% to 24,642.93, KOSPI shed 46.66 points or 2.31% to 2,016.64 and Shanghai Composite was down by 15.14 points or 0.58% to 2,588.66.