Barometer gauges continue to languish deep in red

With no signs of recovery, Indian barometer gauges continued to languish deep in red with Sensex and Nifty hovering near intra-day low points following weak Asian markets. Sharp selling in frontline blue chip stocks such as Infosys, TCS and Reliance Industries among others forced the major indices to extend early losses. Besides, IT, TECK and Energy stocks were on a selling spree. Depreciation of the rupee too dampened investors’ sentiments. Sentiment weakened further as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 753.17 crore on November 20, 2018.  The market breadth on BSE was negative; out of 2,313 stocks traded, 940 stocks advanced, while 1249 stocks declined and 124 stocks remained unchanged on the BSE. Meanwhile, report highlighting that India's crude oil imports in October rose to their highest level in at least more than seven years. Crude imports in October climbed 10.5 percent from a year earlier to 21.02 million tonnes, soured investors’ sentiments. Traders shrugged off a report which stated that small business sentiment was ‘largely intact’ in quarter ending September despite macro headwinds including rising crude oil prices and falling rupee.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid shaky investors’ confidence after steep losses on Wall Street overnight. Back home, the oil marketing companies on Wednesday (November 21) slashed the prices of petrol and diesel across the cities in the country. Petrol is selling for Rs 76.38 per litre, diesel prices stand at Rs 71.27 per litre in Delhi.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35116.72, down by 357.79 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 35112.49 and 35494.25. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.61%, PSU up by 0.51%, Consumer Durables up by 0.45% and Oil & Gas up by 0.43%, while IT down by 3.11%, TECK down by 2.70%, Energy down by 1.19%, Metal down by 1.15% and Capital Goods down by 0.84% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.65%, Asian Paints up by 1.58%, SBI up by 1.18%, ONGC up by 0.72% and Sun Pharma up by 0.70%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.69%, TCS down by 3.50%, Reliance Industries down by 2.41%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.19% and Tata Steel down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retirement fund body, Employment Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Net Payroll Data’ has showed that India reported over 2 fold jump at 9.73 lakh new job creations in the month of September 2018 as compared to 4.11 lakh jobs in the corresponding month last year. The data also showed that around 79.48 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO from September 2017 to September 2018. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the last 13 months.

As per the report, the maximum jobs were created in the age bracket of 18-21 and in this bracket the top 10 sectors which have created more fresh jobs include Expert Services, Trading - Commercial Establishments, Electric-Mechanical-or General Engineering Products, Building & Construction Industry, Engineers- Engineering Contractors, establishments engaged in Manufacturing- Marketing Servicing- Usage of Computers, Textiles, Garments making, establishment engaged in Cleaning and Sweeping Services and Hospitals. In the similar age bracket, Maharashtra was the first among the States to create maximum payroll, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Haryana.

According to the data report, 7139 new jobs were created in less than 18 age group category, while 269491 jobs in 18-21 age group category. Further, 22-25 age, 26-28 age, 29-35 age and more than 35 age group category witnessed 267562, 121240, 160666 and 147676 new payrolls, respectively in September 2018

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10570.50, down by 85.70 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 10562.35 and 10671.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 6.65%, Yes Bank up by 3.15%, Indian Oil up by 2.91%, BPCL up by 2.80% and HPCL up by 1.79%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.73%, TCS down by 3.66%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.64%, Reliance Industries down by 2.33% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI decreased 7.51 points or 0.36% to 2,075.07, Hang Seng declined 56.390 points or 0.22% to 25,783.95, Taiwan Weighted slipped 2.47 points or 0.03% to 9,741.52, Nikkei 225 decreased 75.58 points or 0.35% to 21,507.54 and Jakarta Composite was down 56.76 points or 0.95% to 5,948.54.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 2.60 points or 0.1% to 2,648.45 and Straits Times was up 19.41 points or 0.64% to 3,046.40.