Bourses slip in negative zone

Indian stock markets erased all initial gains and slipped in negative zone in early noon session due to selling in Capital Goods, Utilities and Power stocks. There was some cautiousness with a report that the growth in direct tax collection in the first nine months of the year was marginally lower than the rate of 14.4% required to meet the budget estimate of Rs 11.5 lakh crore for direct taxes in FY19. The net (post-refunds) direct tax collection for April-December period this fiscal was Rs 7.43 lakh crore, up 13.6% from the year-ago period. On the global fort, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as traders were looking for any comments from the US/China trade talks. Back home, on scrip specific development, SAIL gained as the company is expecting to supply 10 lakh tonne of steel in 2018-19 and 12 lakh tonne in 2019-20 to Indian Railways for doubling of rail lines, gauge conversion, new lines and track renewal works. Jindal Steel & Power edged up on completing over 55% of Indian Railways order.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35844.27, down by 5.89 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 35753.95 and 35968.08. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.78%, Healthcare up by 0.76%, Bankex up by 0.13%, TECK up by 0.09% and Auto was up by 0.09%, while Capital Goods down by 0.37%, Utilities down by 0.36%, Power down by 0.34%, Oil & Gas down by 0.28%, Consumer Durables was down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.06%, Tata Motors up by 1.88%, ICICI Bank up by 1.54%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.44% and Yes Bank was up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.15%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.06%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.85%, HDFC Bank down by 0.73% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Credit ratings agency, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that India Inc is likely to register fall in revenue as well as profit growth numbers in Q3 (October-December) of 2018-19. Attributing the estimate mainly to high base in general and certain sector specific issues, it said that revenue growth will dip by up to 5 percentage points on average to 12-13 percent.

According to the report, auto companies will post a revenue growth of only 4 percent on rise in ownership costs and weaker finance options which have hit sales during the quarter while the same for the FMCG sector will be 8 percent on sluggish rural demand. It also noted that sugar, aluminium and telecom will face pressure from lower realisations. It also said that growth in operating profit will decline to 10 percent from 15 percent growth levels achieved over the preceding three quarters. Adding further, it said that commodity-linked sectors will see a jump in revenue growth, led by natural gas (37 percent), steel products (27 percent), cement (10 percent), while infrastructure-related sectors like construction are expected to clip at 12 percent.

Besides, the ratings agency has stated that the rupee was weaker by 11 percent during the quarter, which will benefit export-linked sectors such as software and pharma, which are estimated to grow by 21 percent and 10 percent, respectively. It noted that commodity- and infrastructure-linked sectors are expected to support revenue for the December quarter. In consumption spending-led sectors such as airlines and retail, it said that revenue will be supported by positive demand sentiment while in export-oriented segments such as software services and pharma, the boost would come from a weak rupee.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10768.55, down by 3.25 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 10733.25 and 10798.85. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 2.99%, Eicher Motors up by 2.52%, Tata Motors up by 2.02%, ICICI Bank up by 1.58% and Indiabulls Housing was up by 1.47%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.53%, Zee Entertainment down by 1.41%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.11%, Hindalco down by 1.05% and Power Grid Corporation was down by 1.01% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 41.67 points or 0.16% to 25,794.03, Taiwan Weighted dropped 21.22 points or 0.22% to 9,569.08, Jakarta Composite dropped 14.55 points or 0.23% to 6,272.67, KOSPI fell 7.19 points or 0.35% to 2,029.91 and Shanghai Composite was down by 5.96 points or 0.24% to 2,527.13

On the other hand, Straits Times advanced 14.46 points or 0.47% to 3,117.26 and Nikkei 225 was up by 198.24 points or 0.99% to 20,237.21.