Sensex, Nifty remain under pressure

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure in late afternoon session, with Sensex losing more than 70 points, along with continuous selling in Healthcare and Metal stocks. The major industry losers like Sun Pharma and Tata Steel were seen contributing to the losses on the markets. Traders remain worried as the economic research wing of State Bank of India (SBI) has said that jump in currency in circulation (CIC) cannot be taken as a leading indicator of heightened economic activity, specifically the narrative of large cash usage in informal economy. It also claimed that the higher CIC is because of a change in demand for cash more than two years after re-monetization and added that money supply has been restored to full level now. Besides, broader indices were also trading in red, dragging their larger peers lower during the trade. Traders paid no heed towards report that the government has set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by the finance minister to decide on exceptions and further inclusions of left-out farmers who fail to meet the existing eligibility criteria of the PM KISAN scheme. Meanwhile, United States and India plan to boost bilateral trade in energy, aerospace, defence, pharmaceuticals and healthcare as part of a continuing commercial dialogue. They have set up seven working groups of chief executives with top US and Indian firms that will focus on financial trade and investments as well as bring together small and medium enterprises (SME) from the two countries.

On the global front, European markets are trading mostly in green, as investors await the outcome of a meeting later today between the Trump administration's top two negotiators and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. While, Asian markets were trading in red as global uncertainty grows.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35804.44, down by 71.78 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 35510.97 and 36022.57. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.17%, while Small cap index was down by 0.68%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.73%, Power up by 2.39%, Telecom up by 1.33%, Oil & Gas up by 1.27% and Energy was up by 0.98%, while Healthcare down by 2.37%, Metal down by 2.30%, Basic Materials down by 1.62%, Auto down by 1.19%, Consumer Discretionary was down by 0.89% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.09%, Power Grid Corporation up by 3.97%, ONGC up by 2.16%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.21% and Bharti Airtel was up by 1.11%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 3.82%, Tata Steel down by 3.11%, Vedanta down by 3.03%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.31% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 2.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting signs of improvement in asset quality of banks, credit rating agency, Care Ratings in its latest report has said that the NPA situation in the banking sector has been stabilising, with slowing growth of NPAs during third quarter of current fiscal as compared to a year ago.

As per the report, gross NPAs rose at rate of 8.4% in Q3FY19, lower than double-digit growth of 30.4% in Q3FY18, due to lower incremental NPAs being generated. However, the rating agency noted that it is still not clear if all legacy NPAs have been recognised by all banks.

The report also found an improvement in growth of credit and deposits in the economy but banks’ net profits continue to remain under pressure. It further noted an improvement in credit to industry as well as services on year-on-year basis for December 2018 compared to December 2017.

Besides, Care Ratings said that growth in credit to services increased significantly, while it was remained marginally lower to agriculture & allied activities during the period. Moreover, personal loans (retail) have registered a double-digit growth showing improved consumption in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10712.35, down by 33.70 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 10620.40 and 10785.75. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 4.00%, NTPC up by 3.85%, Bharti Infratel up by 3.82%, BPCL up by 3.52% and GAIL India was up by 3.26%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 5.91%, JSW Steel down by 3.87%, Sun Pharma down by 3.67%, Hindalco down by 3.57% and Tata Steel was down by 3.27% were the top losers.

All Asian market are trading in red, Shanghai Composite declined 37.32 points or 1.37% to 2,682.38, Nikkei 225 slipped 239.08 points or 1.13% to 20,900.63, Hang Seng decreased 531.21 points or 1.87% to 27,900.84, Taiwan Weighted dropped 24.23 points or 0.24% to 10,064.78, KOSPI fell 29.76 points or 1.34% to 2,196.09, Jakarta Composite dropped 19.80 points or 0.31% to 6,400.22 and Straits Times was down by 13.38 points or 0.41% to 3,239.78.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 6.87 points or 0.1% to 7,203.88, France’s CAC was up by 16.61 points or 0.33% to 5,079.13. On the other hand, Germany’s DAX was down by 43.53 points or 0.39% to 11,046.26