Local equities continue lackluster trade in morning deals

Local equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in morning session, tailing mixed global cues. Both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 35,700 and 10,750 marks, respectively. Traders remained concern with Finance Commission chairman NK Singh’s statement that fiscal slippage would adversely impact the country’s macroeconomic stability as well as investment climate. Market participants also remained cautious with a report that Indian companies have raised nearly Rs 6 lakh crore from equity and debt instruments in 2018, but volatile market conditions brought down the kitty by 30% and political uncertainties ahead of the 2019 general elections may again cast a shadow on fund-raising activities in first half of the New Year. However, losses remained capped as traders were getting some support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the government will meet this year’s fiscal deficit target despite the ongoing process of rate rationalisation under the GST system. Besides, President of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated that the government and the council to consider bringing petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors fretted that political instability in the United States was leaving the country rudderless at a time when the global economy was showing signs of faltering. Back home, Niti Aayog stated that India needs to open up its dredging market to boost trade by its major ports which at present cannot handle very large vessels in absence of proper draft depth. More competition mainly from global players in dredging activities would help increase and maintain draft depth at ports and attract large vessels.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35676.13, down by 65.94 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 35634.50 and 35910.67. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.64%, while Small cap index was down by 0.74%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.83%, TECK up by 0.58% and FMCG was up by 0.40%, while Realty down by 2.35%, Metal down by 1.46%, Basic Materials down by 1.07%, Consumer Disc down by 1.05% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.92% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.28%, Sun Pharma up by 1.24%, Infosys up by 1.17%, ITC up by 1.10% and Yes Bank was up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.28%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.08%, HCL Tech down by 1.79%, Vedanta down by 1.62% and Bajaj Finance was down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in its latest report has said that India's domestic air passenger traffic surged by 11.03% to 11.64 million in November 2018 as compared to 10.48 million in November 2017. The report also showed that passenger traffic during the January-November 2018 period grew by 19.21%. During in the reporting month, the passenger load factor is almost equal compared to previous month primarily on account of the ongoing tourist season.

Further, passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2018 were 126.2 million as against 105.93 million during the corresponding period of previous year. The report highlighted that low-cost carrier SpiceJet has the highest passenger load factor (PLF) -- a measure of capacity utilisation of the airline -- at 91.1 % during November 2018. SpiceJet was followed by GoAir with a PLF of 87.6%, AirAsia India at 86.5% and IndiGo at 84.9%.

Besides, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for November 2018 stood at 0.87% and a total of 786 passenger-related complaints were received. Additionally, IndiGo led the industry with the highest market share of 43 per cent, followed by Jet Airways (12.8), SpiceJet (12.5), Air India (12.2) and GoAir (8.8).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10723.10, down by 30.90 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 10708.65 and 10782.30. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 1.38%, HPCL up by 1.26%, Infosys up by 1.12%, Sun Pharma up by 1.06% and ITC was up by 1.05%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 3.59%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.30%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.10%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.76% and Vedanta was down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed, Hang Seng decreased 102.04 points or 0.40% to 25,651.38, Taiwan Weighted dropped 25.38 points or 0.26% to 9,620.78 and KOSPI was down by 6.96 points or 0.34% to 2,054.53.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite gained 4.33 points or 0.17% to 2,520.58 and Straits Times was up by 5.02 points or 0.16% to 3,051.06.