Benchmarks continue lackluster trade slightly in red

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade slightly in red in afternoon session, as caution set in ahead of key economic data for September IIP and October CPI. Investors’ sentiment remain dented with Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) President Ganesh Gupta’s statement that exports of over half of the 30 sectors closely monitored by the Commerce Ministry were in the negative zone in September. Overall exports in September were contracted by 2.15% to $27.95 billion mainly due to the base impact. Some anxiety also remained among the local traders with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) are the two major headwinds that held back India’s economic growth last year, asserting that the current 7% growth rate is not enough to meet the country’s needs. The rupee has also come under pressure, falling by 51 paise to 73.01 against US dollar in early trade at the forex market. On the sectoral front, shipping sector remained in focus with the Indian Ports Association (IPA) data showing that India's 12 major ports witnessed a 5.31 percent rise in cargo traffic at 403.39 million tonnes (MT) during April-October of the current fiscal. These top ports had handled 383.05 MT cargo during the corresponding seven-month period of the last fiscal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, ahead of key economic data, such as industrial production figures from China and Japan later in the week. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35106.96, down by 51.59 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 35074.48 and 35333.22. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.34%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.20%, TECK up by 0.86%, Consumer Durables up by 0.78%, Metal up by 0.17% and FMCG up by 0.07%, while Telecom down by 1.21%, Realty down by 1.08%, Power down by 0.84%, Auto down by 0.78% and PSU down by 0.75% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.35%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.64%, Infosys up by 1.41%, TCS up by 1.11% and Coal India up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.51%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.38%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.56%, Power Grid down by 1.54% and Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, halting three months of consecutive decline, sales of domestic passenger vehicles (PVs), the largest segment by volumes in the country, increased by 1.55 per cent to 2,84,224 units in October from 2,79,877 units in the corresponding month last year. According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), car sales grew marginally by 0.38 per cent to 1,85,400 units last month as compared to 1,84,706 units in October last year.

SIAM has pointed out that positive growth in PV sales witnessed in October is reflective of the overall trend in the automobile industry. It noted that overall, the data shows pretty healthy growth and there is a positive movement in the automobile industry. Besides, it showed that motorcycle sales last month grew 20.14 per cent to 13,27,758 units compared to 11,05,140 units in October 2017. It also noted that total two-wheeler sales in October were up 17.23 per cent to 20,53,497 units as against 17,51,608 units in the year-ago period.

The data further indicated the commercial vehicle segment - which includes light, and medium, and heavy vehicles - logged an impressive 24.82 per cent growth to 87,147 units in October as against 69,816 units in the year-ago month. It added that vehicle sales across categories registered a growth of 15.33 per cent to 24,94,426 units from 21,62,869 units in October 2017.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10580.35, down by 4.85 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 10570.15 and 10645.50. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Co up by 3.34%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.66%, Tata Steel up by 2.55%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.05% and HCL Tech. up by 1.73%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 3.71%, Tata Motors down by 3.48%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.14%, Hindalco down by 1.80% and Power Grid down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite increased 31.68 points or 1.2% to 2,630.55, Taiwan Weighted was up by 1.20 points or 0.01% to 9,831.21, Hang Seng increased 8.05 points or 0.03% to 25,609.97 and Nikkei 225 added 19.63 points or 0.09% to 22,269.88.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite decreased 67.42 points or 1.16% to 5,806.73, Straits Times was down by 11.78 points or 0.38% to 3,066.19 and KOSPI fell 5.65 points or 0.27% to 2,080.44.