Key gauges continues to witness slaughter

Indian equity benchmarks continued to witness slaughter in noon deals on account of Multiple factors such as sell-off in global markets, hike in crude prices along with exit polls projections. Sentiments also remained dampened on report that India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened to 2.9 percent of the GDP in the second quarter of the fiscal compared to 1.1 percent in the year-ago period, mainly due to a large trade deficit, the RBI said on December 7. Selling in energy, realty and telecom sector putting pressure on the markets, while sell off in equities like Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints too dragged markets lower.

Global cues too remained sluggish with all the Asian markets are trading with a steep cut after China protested the arrest of a senior executive of Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei who is suspected of trying to evade U.S. trade curbs on Iran. Back home, select stocks related to auto sector edged lower on report that domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 3.43 per cent to 266,000 units in November from 275,440 units in November 2017. Domestic car sales were down marginally to 179,783 units as against 181,435 units in November 2017.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35122.03, down by 551.22 points or 1.55% after trading in a range of 35016.08 and 35246.97. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index dropped 1.42%, while Small cap index was down by 1.50%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy down by 2.71%, Telecom down by 2.12%, Realty down by 1.95%, Capital Goods down by 1.69% and Bankex was down by 1.68%, while there were no gainers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 0.76% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 6.26%, Reliance Industries down by 4.09%, Asian Paints down by 3.23%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.62% and Sun Pharma down by 2.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank in its latest report has said that India will retain its position as the world's top recipient of remittances this year with its diaspora sending a whopping $80 billion back home. Report highlighted that India is followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($34 billion each) and Egypt ($26 billion).

The report also mentioned that over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $62.7 billion in 2016 to $65.3 billion 2017. In 2017, remittances constituted 2.7% of India's GDP. Besides, it estimates that officially-recorded remittances to developing countries will increase by 10.8% to reach $528 billion in 2018. This new record level follows a robust growth of 7.8% in 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, are projected to grow by 10.3% to $689 billion. Meanwhile, it stated that remittances to South Asia are projected to increase by 13.5% to $132 billion in 2018, a stronger pace than the 5.7% growth seen in 2017.

The upsurge is driven by stronger economic conditions in advanced economies, particularly the US, and the increase in oil prices having a positive impact on outflows from some GCC countries such as the UAE which reported a 13% growth in outflows for the first half of 2018. For the Year 2019, the bank said it is expecting that remittances growth for the region will slow to 4.3% on account of a moderation of growth in advanced economies, lower migration to the GCC and the benefits from the oil price spurt dissipating.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10529.05, down by 164.65 points or 1.54% after trading in a range of 10486.00 and 10558.85. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indian Oil Corporation up by 2.74%, BPCL up by 0.75%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.62%, HPCL up by 0.56% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.29%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 5.79%, Reliance Industries down by 4.14%, Indiabulls Housing down by 3.65%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.61% and Ultratech Cement down by 3.57% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 tumbled 459.18 points or 2.12% to 21,219.50, Straits Times declined 34.24 points or 1.10% to 3,076.88, Hang Seng dropped 359.83 points or 1.38% to 25,703.93, Taiwan Weighted fell 113.34 points or 1.16% to 9,647.54, KOSPI shed 21.97 Points or 1.06% to 2,053.79, Jakarta Composite slipped 39.78 points or 0.65% to 6,086.58 and Shanghai Composite was down by 20.54 points or 0.79% to 2,585.35.