Indian bourses off day’s low

Key Indian benchmarks pared most of their losses in afternoon session to come off their intraday low points, led by buying in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Energy sector stocks. The losses on the bourses got trimmed, as traders took a note of the NASSCOM’s report that Indian startups has registered a 108 percent growth in total funding to $4.2 billion in 2018 as compared to $2 billion in previous year. However, the indices stayed in red terrain, as anxiety remained on the street 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. Also, a slight increase in international crude oil prices pulled down the Indian rupee, too dampened investor sentiments. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, as anxiety over corporate profits added to lingering fears about global trade and economic growth.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33654.20, down by 35.89 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 33332.10 and 33776.80. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 0.49%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.81%, Telecom up by 1.41%, Energy up by 1.28%, Auto up by 1.15% and Industrials up by 0.84%, while IT down by 1.31%, TECK down by 1.10%, Power down by 0.52%, Bankex down by 0.45% and FMCG down by 0.42% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.38%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 2.73%, Reliance Industries up by 2.12%, Tata Steel up by 2.10% and Hero MotoCorp up by 2.06%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.27%, Axis Bank down by 2.29%, Infosys down by 1.82%, TCS down by 1.77% and NTPC down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that Indian rupee may recover to 69.79 per dollar in the second half of 2018-19 (H2FY19), down 8.3% from the first half, if the monetary authority props it up by mobilising at least $30 billion from Non-resident Indians (NRIs) as it has done in 2013. It pointed out that Indian rupee is the worst-performing Asian currency, declining over 15% year-to-date, while in the first half it averaged at 68.57 to the dollar, down 8.3% year-on-year, making the fall at a five-year high so far.

According to the report, the rupee depreciation against the dollar so far is at a five-year high, but a longer term view suggests that average depreciation during FY15-FY19 will be only 3%, which is at par with the 20 years (FY1999-FY18) average depreciation. It also mentioned that the rupee pain arises from global developments such as the strengthening dollar, high commodity prices, especially of crude oil, and rising US rates, coupled with domestic factors like widening trade/current account deficit, inflationary pressures and likely fiscal slippage.

Ind-Ra furher said that the current bout of a sharp deterioration in the rupee is the fourth such instance in the current decade indicating its vulnerability to global events. It can be noted that after the 2013 episode when it had plunged to 86.83 to a dollar on August 30 that year, the rupee has enjoyed a relatively stable run, due to mobilisation of NRI deposits in foreign currency non-repatriable account, crash in global commodity prices, especially crude from September 2014, and delayed monetary tightening by the US Fed. It added that but all these changed at the turn of FY19 due to a sudden spurt in oil prices and a reversal in capital flows, although chinks in this seemingly happy equilibrium had emerged in FY18 itself.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10113.45, down by 11.45 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 10004.55 and 10128.85. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.17%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.84%, Titan Co up by 3.12%, UPL up by 2.43% and Tata Steel up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.29%, HCL Tech. down by 3.05%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.52%, Axis Bank down by 2.42% and JSW Steel down by 2.24% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; KOSPI decreased 36.15 points or 1.78% to 2,027.15, Hang Seng shed 143.31 points or 0.58% to 24,851.15, Jakarta Composite was down by 3.07 points or 0.05% to 5,751.90, Taiwan Weighted decreased 31.61 points or 0.33% to 9,489.18, Straits Times dipped 43.87 points or 1.48% to 2,968.97, Shanghai Composite fell 17.50 points or 0.68% to 2,586.30 and Nikkei 225 decreased 84.13 points or 0.4% to 21,184.60.