Bourses turn negative in late afternoon session

Key Indian equity benchmarks erased all of their gains in late afternoon session to turn negative, despite firm opening in European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices were too remained under pressure in late noon deals, while Realty index fell the most among sectoral indices on the BSE. Trading sentiments got hit after Global rating agency Moody’s said that the government policies to support the incomes of small enterprises and low-income households ahead of Lok Sabha elections will make fiscal consolidation harder. It further said that the fiscal deficit may touch 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for year ending March 2019, breach the target of 3.3 per cent. The markets participants paid no heed towards Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s statement that the country's Goods and Services Tax would usher in long term gains despite initial problems and claimed that the world would take a cue from the GST experiment.

On the sectoral front, metals stocks were trading lower despite rating agency ICRA’s forecast that domestic steelmakers are likely to put Rs 75,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore in capital expenditure or capex between FY19 and FY21. The report is bullish on the profitability of steel companies this fiscal, saying it will improve the FY18 figures on the back of superior performance during April-September period of FY19.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, even though Eurozone private sector expanded at the weakest pace in five-and-a-half years at the start of the year, led by weaker pace of growth in both manufacturing and services. The flash Composite PMI dropped to 66-month low of 50.7 from 51.1 in December. The flash manufacturing PMI fell to a 50-month low of 50.5 while the services PMI eased to a 65-month low of 50.8. Asian markets were also trading in green.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36089.88, down by 105.22 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 36056.92 and 36474.48. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.92%, while Small cap index was down by 0.96%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.40%, Oil & Gas up by 0.21%, Energy up by 0.11% and Consumer Durables up by 0.02%, while Realty down by 2.49%, Consumer Disc down by 2.19%, Auto down by 2.01%, Basic Materials down by 1.86% and Metal down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.54%, HCL Tech. up by 1.77%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.60% and ITC up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.76%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.76%, Asian Paints down by 2.59%, ICICI Bank down by 2.38% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, terming Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the biggest transformation of the world, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said that the GST will usher in long term gains despite initial problems, noting that the world would take a cue from the GST experiment.

Vice President further mentioned that doing business in India has now become much cheaper and faster through GST, other tax reforms, digital processing single interface and single window system, and underlined the country’s improvement on the ease of doing business index.

Naidu also said that India has become the top destination for investments in the world, on the back the reforms taken by the government in the past few years. Besides, he highlighted the efforts being taken by the union government, states and all political parties towards the agriculture sector which is facing some problems. However, Naidu cautioned against rising inequality across the world and urged that all forms of inequality must be brought down. Meanwhile, he added that the Indian government, Indian states are moving in that direction.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10814.40, down by 35.40 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 10783.75 and 10931.70. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 5.91%, Yes Bank up by 3.99%, HCL Tech. up by 1.85%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.24% and Indian Oil Corporation up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 18.22%, Ultratech Cement down by 7.44%, Maruti Suzuki down by 5.08%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.24% and Grasim Industries down by 3.02% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 198.93 points or 0.97% to 20,773.56, Hang Seng increased 448.21 points or 1.65% to 27,569.19, KOSPI rose 32.70 points or 1.52% to 2,177.73, Jakarta Composite soared 18.60 points or 0.29% to 6,485.26, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 92.49 points or 0.94% to 9,969.61, Shanghai Composite gained 10.03 points or 0.39% to 2,601.72 and Straits Times was up by 16.06 points or 0.5% to 3,206.79.

All European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC rose 42.51 points or 0.87% to 4,914.47, Germany’s DAX added 142.44 points or 1.28% to 11,272.62 and UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 35.40 points or 0.52% to 6,854.35.