Benchmarks erase initial gains to trade marginally lower

Indian equity benchmarks erased their initial gains and are now trading marginally in red amid concerns that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) governor Urjit Patel may resign today owing to differences with the central government. Traders remained cautious with RBI’s report showing that India Inc’s foreign borrowing more than halved to $1.71 billion in September. Meanwhile, the high level the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) meeting chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed liquidity issues being faced by the non-banking financial companies. However, losses remain capped on report that Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu hinted at improvement in India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business report, to be released on Wednesday. India jumped 30 places to rank 100th among 190 nations in the last year’s World Bank’s ease of doing business index.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green at this point of time thanks to a rebound on Wall Street. The US markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday, helped by strong gains for chipand transport stocks as investors took advantage of cheaper prices following a steep recent pullback for equities.

Back home, power sector stocks edged lower despite report that the government is looking to execute at least two mergers among central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) in the power sector to step up the disinvestment process and meet its target. Stocks related to rubber industry remained in focus with report that the projected growth in the rubber consumption which is a corollary to overall economic development of the country necessitates the need to expand rubber production though the current prolonged phase of natural rubber price crash has impacted the growers deeply.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 33856.70, down by 34.43 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 33842.60 and 34050.12. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.38%, TECK up by 0.98%, Oil & Gas up by 0.49%, Healthcare up by 0.18% and Auto was up by 0.09%, while Metal down by 1.39%, Telecom down by 0.53%, Power down by 0.50%, Bankex down by 0.44% and PSU was down by 0.44% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.18%, HDFC up by 1.79%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.10%, Yes Bank up by 0.96% and TCS up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 3.55%, Tata Steel down by 2.16%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.41%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.34% and Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s ease of doing business ranking, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu indicated at improvement in the country’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business report. He added that the country has improved substantially. Besides, improvement is expected in parameters, including construction permit, starting a business, and trading across borders.

The World Bank’s last year’s 'ease of doing business' index had showed that India jumped 30 places to rank 100th among 190 nations. The World bank ranks countries based on 10 parameters, including starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trade across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.

Talking about India-US trade relations, Prabhu said that New Delhi is actively engaged with Washington to resolve the issues. He said that India would like to work with the US on global challenges to multi-lateral trading system and matters related to existential issues of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  He added that India is a growing economy and it offers huge advantages for the US companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10182.90, down by 15.50 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 10182.45 and 10246.00. There were 18 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing up by 3.24%, Infosys up by 2.24%, UPL up by 2.14%, HDFC up by 1.79% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 5.29%, Coal India down by 3.52%, Zee Entertainment down by 2.73%, Tata Steel down by 2.52% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 363.47 points or 1.67% to 21,820.76, Taiwan Weighted soared 186.87 points or 1.92% to 9,712.98, Straits Times increased 19.44 points or 0.65% to 2,985.89, Hang Seng jumped 147.44 points or 0.6% to 24,732.97, KOSPI added 2.28 points or 0.11% to 2,016.97 and Shanghai Composite was up by 29.00 points or 1.12% to 2,597.05. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 10.33 points or 0.18% to 5,778.77.