Indian equities continue weak trade; Telecom stocks fall

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in afternoon session, tracking weakness in Asian peers, a surge in crude oil prices and weak rupee. The mood on the street remained cautious ahead of RBI policy outcome on Wednesday and election results for some states next week. Some anxiety also remained among the local traders with Crisil cutting India’s growth forecast for current fiscal to 7.4% on the back of weakening GDP growth and lower global trade forecasts. India’s growth in the July-September quarter slipped to 7.1% from 8.2% in the April-June quarter. It added that India’s export, which saw a revival in early part of 2018, could likely see a slower growth. Traders reacted negatively to ICRA’s statement that India’s current account deficit is likely to rise to 3% of GDP in the July-September quarter of current fiscal, from 2.4% in the preceding quarter, driven mainly by high crude oil prices. On the sectoral front, stocks related to Telecom sector edged lower with Credit rating agency ICRA stating that telecom industry's debt would remain elevated and maintains negative outlook for the sector with no respite in sight, following intense rivalry.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red, as a relief rally petered out amid rising doubts over whether China and the United States will be able to resolve trade differences. An inverted U.S. yield curve also raised concerns about a possible recession. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36116.73, down by 124.27 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 36036.39 and 36295.84. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.49%, TECK up by 1.16%, Oil & Gas up by 0.55%, Healthcare up by 0.34% and Capital Goods up by 0.14%, while Telecom down by 0.98%, Realty down by 0.61%, Metal down by 0.55%, Power down by 0.45% and Utilities down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Wipro up by 2.56%, ONGC up by 2.17%, Infosys up by 2.11%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.70% and TCS up by 1.20%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.19%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.89%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.73%, Sun Pharma down by 1.47% and HDFC Bank down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, stressing on need for open borders, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that trading across national boundaries is an economic imperative of the times and that barriers to free trade should be dismantled. His remarks come amid mounting worries over tariff wars across the world, especially after the US initiated a slew of actions against select goods to address its trade balance with select countries, including a few items like steel from the country.

The minister has stated that it is in the larger interest of every country to make sure that trade barriers are brought down to the extent it is possible. He pointed out that there is a need for open trade as no country can manufacture all goods or specialize in rendering all services which are needed by consumers wanting the best quality at the lowest prices.

Besides, Jaitley reiterated that nations across the world are now realising that increased trade helps not just the global economy but also its own economy. He also affirmed the Centre’s commitment to improving trade facilitation across borders and also adopt the best practices across the world. He added that the steps taken by the government have helped in massive improvement in the ranking in trade across borders to 80 this year, from 146 earlier.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10861.70, down by 22.05 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 10833.35 and 10890.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 3.34%, UPL up by 2.89%, Wipro up by 2.50%, ONGC up by 2.25% and BPCL up by 2.10%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.46%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.81%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.69%, Sun Pharma down by 1.47% and HDFC Bank down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 538.71 points or 2.44% to 22,036.05, Straits Times shed 32.50 points or 1.03% to 3,158.12, Taiwan Weighted was down by 54.33 points or 0.54% to 10,083.54, Hang Seng fell 61.28 points or 0.23% to 27,120.76 and KOSPI dipped 17.58 points or 0.83% to 2,114.35.
On the flip side, Shanghai Composite increased 7.89 points or 0.3% to 2,662.69 and Jakarta Composite was up by 3.90 points or 0.06% to 6,122.22.