Benchmarks continue to trade in negative territory

Indian benchmarks continued to trade in negative territory in early noon session, with Sensex and Nifty plunging 0.37% and 0.51% respectively. Selling in frontline blue chip stocks such as Vedanta, Mahindra & Mahindra, and ONGC weighed down sentiment, while buying in TCS, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank were minimizing losses up to certain level. Investors’ sentiment remained dented with International Monetary Fund warning government to gear up for a possible economic storm as growth undershoots expectations. It said the bottom-line they see an economy that is growing more slowly than they had anticipated. Traders paid no heed to report that the Net direct tax collection stood at Rs 7,88,930 crore in the April-January period of current fiscal (2018-19). Total direct tax collection stood at Rs 10.02 lakh crore in 2017-18. Meanwhile, total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts are set to cross Rs 90,000 crore with the government making the flagship financial inclusion programme more attractive especially by doubling accident insurance cover to Rs 2 lakh.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors were unable to shake off worries about global growth, US politics and the Sino-US trade war, keeping the safe-haven dollar well bid near a six-week top against major currencies. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, IDFC slipped despite reporting 11-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 26.28 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 under review as compared to Rs 2.40 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. PSP Projects gained on reporting a rise of 41.37% in its net profit at Rs 21.46 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 as compared to Rs 15.18 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 36410.76, down by 135.72 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 36309.28 and 36588.41. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.28%, while Small cap index was down by 1.45%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.64% and TECK was up by 0.56%, while Healthcare down by 2.04%, Metal down by 1.86%, Basic Materials down by 1.76%, Utilities down by 1.72% and Oil & Gas was down by 1.55% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.94%, Infosys up by 0.86%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.58%, HCL Technologies up by 0.22% and HDFC Bank was up by 0.19%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.44%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.13%, ONGC down by 3.07%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.44% and Tata Motors - DVR was down by 2.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, asserting India's fast economic growth is not without generation of jobs, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has stated the country actually faces shortage of capital more than the scarcity of jobs. He pointed out that creating jobs is a keystone of an economic activity, which is producing goods and services, and the surest ways to generate job is to make the economy grow and ensure the government takes up every possible programs of investment in the country.

Garg has stated that the government has carried out innumerable programmes of investment in the rural areas whether it is the 'Prime Minister's Awas Yojana' where crores of houses are being constructed or large programmes of roads in rural areas and National Highway. He said every house results into employment generation and there is a large programme for expanding the LPG connections and fuel delivery. He added that all of them have the potential of generating jobs.

According to the Secretary, India is at a developing stage and there is lot of developmental work to do such as construction of roads, houses and infratsructural facilities.

He also said that the construction labourer or the mistry, too, has got skills to get employed in any kind of construction work and get a job. He said “If the economic activity continues, these jobs will remain. We are scratching just the surface. We need to create thousands of cities. The city infrastructure is nowhere.' He added that India has had the highest economic growth in the last four-five years and the growth was accompanied with job generation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10887.55, down by 56.05 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 10857.10 and 10930.90. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 1.40%, TCS up by 1.14%, Infosys up by 0.78%, Eicher Motors up by 0.69% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.35%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 6.09%, Indiabulls Housing down by 4.22%, Hindalco down by 4.08%, ONGC down by 3.61% and Vedanta was down by 3.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mixed; Hang Seng increased 70.93 points or 0.25% to 28,017.25, KOSPI rose 2.74 points or 0.13% to 2,179.79, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 71.99 points or 0.72% to 10,004.25 and Shanghai Composite was up by 19.76 points or 0.75% to 2,637.99. On the flip side Jakarta Composite dropped 5.87 points or 0.09% to 6,515.79and Straits Times was down by 20.36 points or 0.64% to 3,181.68.