Local equities maintain cautious approach on the streets

Following weak global cues, local equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of around quarter a percent. Some cautiousness came with a report stating that with global crude prices remaining elevated, the rupee is likely to be under pressure, and may touch the 76 levels against the US currency over the next three months. Investors also maintained cautious approach with a report that overseas investors pulled out a massive Rs 38,900 crore from the capital markets in October, the steepest outflow in nearly two years, on rising crude oil prices, depreciating rupee and worsening current account deficit. With this, the total outflow from the capital markets has reached over Rs 1 lakh crore so far this year. However, losses remained capped as market participates got some solace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that he has announced measures for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will add strength to the sector. He also stated that bigger markets and better opportunities for the MSMEs was a ‘win-win’ situation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, following the negative cues from Wall Street on Friday amid worries about US-China trade tensions after White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed hopes of an imminent trade deal. Back home, India will participate in China’s first international import expo in Shanghai as part of its efforts to reduce the over $51 billion trade deficit with the neighbouring nation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 34941.56, down by 70.09 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 34848.49 and 35123.41. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.05%, Realty up by 0.83%, Basic Materials up by 0.64%, Healthcare up by 0.32% and FMCG was up by 0.19% while, Power down by 1.63%, Utilities down by 0.94%, Oil & Gas down by 0.70%, Energy down by 0.58%, PSU down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 3.00%, SBI up by 1.44%, Tata Steel up by 1.40%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.89% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.81%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.91%, Indusind Bank down by 2.09%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.95%, Adani Ports down by 1.36% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P K Mishra has said that the government is making utmost efforts with an integrated approach and has initiated multiple reforms to achieve the ambitious goal of doubling farmers' income by the year 2022. He also emphasized the need to analyse as to 'why the past initiatives could not accomplish the desired results' in the agriculture sector. He added that for the first time, the present government has ushered in a paradigm shift in the approach, from growth of production to increase farmers' income.

According to Mishra, some of the initiatives taken to address price and yield risks in the last four years include setting up of electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM), upgradation of rural haats, new scheme Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA), Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. He noted that this is a major shift in the approach -- a clear focus on farmer and farmer welfare rather than simply production and productivity.

For this purpose, he said that a holistic strategy for the agriculture sector was visualized and informed that efforts are being made to follow this with an integrated approach by initiating multiple reforms and programmes with an overall objective of doubling farmers' income. He noted that in February 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said farmers' income would be doubled by 2022 to mark 75 years of India's independence. He said “Policymakers and practitioners need to look at how one could address the farmers' risk -- that affects his income and welfare and linking activities of non-agriculture sector. This is also an area of agriculture research.”

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10519.95, down by 33.05 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 10498.40 and 10558.80. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 2.88%, SBI up by 1.84%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.75%, JSW Steel up by 1.33% and GAIL India was up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corporation down by 4.35%, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 4.01%, HPCL down by 2.87%, NTPC down by 2.82% and BPCL was down by 2.50% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng slipped 737.67 points or 2.86% to 25,748.68, KOSPI fell 30.28 points or 1.47% to 2,065.72, Shanghai Composite dropped 26.64 points or 1.01% to 2,649.84, Straits Times lost 57.73 points or 1.89% to 3,058.66, Nikkei 225 declined 339.98 points or 1.55% to 21,903.68, Taiwan Weighted decreased 69.97 points or 0.71% to 9,836.62 and Jakarta Composite was down by 8.87 points or 0.15% to 5,897.42.