Bears hold grip on Dalal Street

Bears tighten grip on the Indian markets in late afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty plunging by 102 points and 44 points, respectively, despite firm opening in European markets. Besides, major industry losers like Bharti Airtel, Coal India and ONGC, weighted on the trade. Heavy selling at Oil & Gas and Telecom stocks along with mixed Asian markets, were too contributing to the losses. There was some anxiety among the traders as Union minister R K Singh has said that power demand, which is already growing, will continue to rise in the near future. He also noted that the current consumption of 1200 units per capita is expected to grow 2-3 times at par with the international consumption after each and every individual of the country has access to electricity.

Investors overlooked report that with an aim to improve competitiveness of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the government has approved a three-year extension of the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy and Technology Up-gradation (CLCS-TUS) Scheme for MSMEs with total outlay of Rs 2,900 crore. The scheme has been approved for continuation beyond the 12th five-year Plan for three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report has showed that bank credit growth increased by 14.5 percent at Rs 94.29 lakh crore, while deposits grew at a tepid 9.63 percent to Rs 121.22 lakh crore for the fortnight ending February 1. Though, both credit and deposits growth of bank declined marginally on a fortnightly basis.

On the global front, European markets are trading in green amid a flurry of earnings results, while market participants anxiously wait on any signs of progress in the latest round of US-China trade talks. Asian markets were trading in mixed, as investors looked Chinese exports and imports data for January easily topped expectations, helping limit losses across the region. Back on street, in scrip specific development, Yes Bank gained traction on receiving the Risk Assessment Report for FY2018. The report observes NIL divergences in the Bank’s asset classification and provisioning from the RBI norms.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35931.56, down by 102.55 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 35799.42 and 36109.10. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.46%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.87%, Industrials up by 0.78%, Auto up by 0.60%, Realty up by 0.39% and Capital Goods was up by 0.39%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.91%, Telecom down by 1.87%, Energy down by 1.60%, IT down by 1.08% and TECK down by 0.98% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 27.68%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.23%, Tata Motors up by 3.59%, Sun Pharma up by 2.10% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.69%, Coal India down by 1.70%, ONGC down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 1.44% and Infosys was down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, coming in line with softening Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation, India’s Wholesale price index (WPI) inflation eased for the third straight month in January 2019. According to the latest data released by the government, WPI slowed down to 2.76 percent in January from 3.80 percent in December and 3.02 percent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.49 percent compared to a build up rate of 2.47 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62 percent, declined by 0.1 percent to 134.5 (provisional) from 134.7 (provisional) for the previous month. Among the primary articles, the index for ‘Food Articles’ group rose by 0.1 percent to 144.1 (provisional) from 144.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Non-Food Articles’ group rose by 0.8 percent to 125.5 (provisional) from 124.5 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Minerals’ group rose by 7.8 percent to 151.4 (provisional) from 140.4 (provisional) for the previous month, while The index for 'Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas' group declined by 9.2 percent to 83.3 (provisional) from 91.7 (provisional) for the previous month.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15 percent, fell 4.1 percent to 99.3 (provisional) from 103.5 (provisional) for the previous month, with the easing prices of mineral oils and electricity.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23 percent, declined by 0.3 percent to 117.9 (provisional) from 118.3 (provisional) for the previous month. Among these, the index for ‘Manufacture of Beverages’ group declined by 0.5 percent to 121.4 (provisional) from 122.0 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for 'Manufacture of Tobacco Products' group declined by 0.5 percent to 148.7 (provisional) from 149.5 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Textiles’ group declined by 0.3 percent to 118.8 (provisional) from 119.2 (provisional) for the previous month, the index for ‘Manufacture of Wood and of Products of Wood and Cork ‘ group declined by 0.1 percent to 133.7 (provisional) from 133.9 (provisional) for the previous month and the index for ‘Manufacture of Paper and Paper Products’ group declined by 0.2 percent to 125.0 (provisional) from 125.2 (provisional) for the previous month.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10749.25, down by 44.40 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 10718.75 and 10792.70. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 27.71%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 6.44%, Zee Entertainment up by 5.22%, Tata Motors up by 3.42% and JSW Steel was up by 2.58%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 4.70%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 4.35%, Hindalco down by 3.38%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.97% and Bharti Airtel was down by 2.87% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mixed; Shanghai Composite declined 1.37 points or 0.05% to 2,719.70, Nikkei 225 slipped 4.77 points or 0.02% to 21,139.71, Hang Seng decreased 65.54 points or 0.23% to 28,432.05 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 1.57 points or 0.02% to 10,089.01. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 24.37 points or 1.11% to 2,225.85, Jakarta Composite soared 0.90 points or 0.01% to 6,420.02 and Straits Times was up by 4.38 points or 0.13% to 3,249.15.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.67 points or 0.38% to 7,218.51, France’s CAC increased 25.72 points or 0.51% to 5,099.99and Germany’s DAX was up by 23.32 points or 0.21% to 11,190.54.