Key indices carry on lower trade in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in early noon session with Sensex and Nifty down by around 60 and 25 points respectively. Market participants remained on sidelines ahead of quarterly results of key bluechips. Markets failed to get any sense of relief with PwC-Ficci survey showing that India Inc expects over seven percent growth in the next 12 months on the back of a number of policy initiatives taken by the government. As per the report, the Indian economy is likely to grow at an average rate of 7% or more in the coming year. It added that India Inc is upbeat about the future of the economy as growth is to be driven by strong domestic demand and an increased focus on export markets. However, losses remain limited with a private report that the per capita net national income in the country is set to expand at the fastest pace in five years 2018-19, according to the first advance estimate of GDP unveiled by the government. The data showed that per capita net national income is estimated to grow by 11.1% to Rs 1,25,397 in 2018-19 at current prices, faster than the 8.6% growth rate notched up in the previous year. Meanwhile, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 276.14 crore from the capital markets on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 439.67 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed; as market await more news on US-China trade talks that have raised hopes of a deal to avert an all-out trade war. Back on street, on scrip specific development, Adani Enterprises traded in green as the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of Andhra Pradesh to build Data Center Parks up to 5 GW capacities in and around Visakhapatnam over the next 20 years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36154.22, down by 58.69 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 36127.33 and 36269.31. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.33%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.03%, Industrials up by 0.47%, Auto up by 0.45%, Consumer Durables up by 0.40% and Capital Goods was up by 0.37%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.90%, Bankex down by 0.65%, Energy down by 0.50%, Metal down by 0.28% and PSU was down by 0.22% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 1.64%, NTPC up by 1.16%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.98%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.94% and Mahindra & Mahindra was up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.25%, Axis Bank down by 0.97%, ICICI Bank down by 0.97%, HDFC down by 0.90% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Bank’s CEO Kristalina Georgieva has said, in this more challenging environment, developing economies like India, must get ready to cope with possible turbulence and to build fiscal and monetary space, to build policy buffers. She also said that the growth of the global economy is expected to slow to 2.9 percent in 2019 compared with 3 percent in 2018. She said that is still a robust growth performance. But she added ‘what we see happening are troubling signs in terms of international trade and manufacturing activities.’

Georgieva has stated that the governments have to concentrate more on their debt management practices, especially in countries where this is already a serious concern. She also noted that they need to use borrowing to fund development needs, to use borrowing for productive purposes and they have to work with creditors on transparency and sustainability of lending practices. Urging countries to accelerate reforms, she said that from the Bank's perspective, this is particularly critical for investing in human capital, lowering barriers to higher investments and boost positivity and make sure that they are integrated in the world economy in a way that helps them to expand and grow.

The World Bank’s CEO further said that “when growth softens, we are likely to see either stalling or even reversal of poverty reduction. We are also concerned about debt levels and especially debt levels in low income countries where during the period of time of low interest rates, there had been a build-up of debt and now debt service is eating into the government revenues making it more difficult to fund essential social services.” She also noted that the majority of lowest-Income countries would be hard-hit by a sudden weakening in trade or by global financial conditions worsening. 
 
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10831.80, down by 23.35 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 10825.35 and 10859.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 1.69%, UPL up by 1.66%, NTPC up by 1.54%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.99% and Eicher Motors was up by 0.83%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.78%, Indusind Bank down by 2.29%, BPCL down by 1.74%, Grasim Industries down by 1.27% and Wipro was down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Hang Seng increased 36.99 points or 0.14% to 26,499.31, Jakarta Composite soared 25.91 points or 0.41% to 6,298.15, Straits Times advanced 16.38 points or 0.52% to 3,174.45 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.74 points or 0.03% to 2,545.08.

On the other hand, KOSPI fell 1.88 points or 0.09% to 2,062.83, Taiwan Weighted dropped 17.62 points or 0.18% to 9,720.69 and Nikkei 225 was down by 286.28 points or 1.4% to 20,140.78.