Sensex, Nifty at day’s lows

Key Indian equity benchmarks extended their losses in late afternoon session, tracking weak European markets. In line with larger peers, the broader indices too remained under pressure in noon deals, with both the Mid cap and Small cap falling 1.35% each. Domestic sentiments got hit after Fitch Ratings said that it expects the Indian currency to weaken to 75 rupees against the US dollar by the end of next year on a widening current account deficit and tighter global financing conditions. Some concerns also came with a private report stating that officers of the indirect tax department have started issuing preliminary notices to captive units of multinationals and Indian companies exporting offshore support services. Adding more worries, Fitch Solutions said that the slow pace of land reforms will continue to result in project delays and rising costs, posing a downside risk for the road and rail sectors. On the sectoral front, agri stocks were in limelight, amid reports that the Union Cabinet is expected to approve a policy to boost exports of agriculture commodities such as tea, coffee and rice and increase the country's share in global agri trade.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Eurozone's private sector growth was the lowest in more than two years during November, led by Germany, though the pace of slowdown was less than what was estimated initially. The final Eurozone Composite purchasing managers' index fell to 52.7 from October's 53.1. Besides, UK services sector growth slowed to its weakest level in nearly two-and-a-half years in November, amid weaker growth in both business activity and new work as Brexit concerns intensified, defying expectations for a modest improvement. The CIPS UK Services purchasing managers' index, or PMI, fell to 50.4 from 52.2 in October. Asian markets were also trading in red.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35411.83, down by 472.58 points or 1.32% after trading in a range of 35411.29 and 35707.23. There were 2 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.35%, while Small cap index was down by 1.35%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.56%, Telecom down by 2.33%, IT down by 1.83%, TECK down by 1.82% and Auto down by 1.77%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.35% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.12%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.78%, Tata Motors down by 3.25%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.85% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, few days after the Central Statistics Office showed that India’s economic growth slowed down to 7.1% in Q2 FY19, credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings in its latest report has cut the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast of the country to 7.2% for current fiscal (FY19), citing higher financing cost and reduced credit availability.

The rating agency also made growth projections for the next two years, 2019-20 and 2020-21. Fitch said India may grow at rate of 7% in 2019-20 and 7.1% in 2020-21. It said GDP growth softened quite substantially in July-September quarter of current fiscal growing by 7.1%, as against 8.2% in April-June.

Fitch Further said that consumption was the weak spot, stepping down from 8.6% to 7.0%, though still growing at a healthy rate. Other components of domestic demand fared well, notably investment, which has been steadily strengthening since 2H17. The external sector was again a significant drag on overall GDP amid steadily accelerating imports. Besides, it hopes that India's fiscal policy would continue to support growth in the run-up to elections in early 2019 and further forecast Indian rupee to weaken to 75 to a dollar by end of 2019.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10622.55, down by 160.35 points or 1.49% after trading in a range of 10622.45 and 10722.65. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.87%, UPL up by 0.35%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.11% and JSW Steel up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 6.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.43%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.96%, Grasim Industries down by 3.63% and HCL Tech. down by 3.35% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Straits Times decreased 43.97 points or 1.41% to 3,111.95, Nikkei 225 plunged 417.71 points or 1.94% to 21,501.62, Taiwan Weighted dropped 232.02 points or 2.4% to 9,684.72, KOSPI dipped 32.62 points or 1.58% to 2,068.69, Hang Seng decreased 663.30 points or 2.54% to 26,156.38, Shanghai Composite fell 44.63 points or 1.71% to 2,605.18 and Jakarta Composite was down by 17.63 points or 0.29% to 6,115.49.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 115.69 points or 1.7% to 6,806.15, France’s CAC lost 92.71 points or 1.91% to 4,851.66 and Germany’s DAX was down by 229.87 points or 2.1% to 10,970.37.