Local equities turn negative

Local equity benchmarks erased all early gains to trade in negative terrain in morning session. Both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 35,750 and 10,750 marks, respectively. Traders turned cautious with commerce and industry ministry’s data showing that foreign direct investment (FDI) into India contracted by 7% to $33.49 billion during April-December in the current fiscal. Foreign fund inflows during April-December 2017-18 stood at $35.94 billion. However, losses remained capped as traders are getting some solace with Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar’s statement that he expects bad loan recoveries to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore during the current fiscal. So far, banks have recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Some support came with a report that India is likely to achieve an average growth of 6.5 per cent in 2019-28, the highest among the emerging economies. The report stated out that emerging markets (EMs) with sustained fast growth are distinguished by rapid capital accumulation - mainly domestically financed - and robust total factor productivity (TFP) growth. Besides, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that he saw investment opportunities of more than $100 billion in India over the next two years.

On the global front, Asian market were trading in green, following an earlier slip in the morning as traders tried to interpret a release from the Federal Reserve. Back home, EPFO payroll data showed that employment generation in the formal sector almost trebled to touch a 16-month high of 7.16 lakh in December 2018 compared to 2.37 lakh in the year-ago month. Around 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from September 2017 to December 2018.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35728.42, down by 27.84 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 35707.29 and 35851.41. There were 14 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.71%, Basic Materials up by 0.70%, Healthcare up by 0.27%, BANKEX up by 0.23% and Realty was up by 0.22%, while Telecom down by 1.50%, Auto down by 0.67%, Utilities down by 0.44%, Capital Goods down by 0.40%, Oil & Gas was down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.04%, Vedanta up by 2.00%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.82%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.78% and ONGC was up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.62%, IndusInd Bank down by 1.47%, Yes Bank down by 1.35%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.24% and Mahindra & Mahindra was down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Commerce and industry ministry in its latest data has showed that in the first nine months (April-December) of current financial year (FY19) Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India contracted by 7% to $33.49 billion as compared to $35.94 billion in same period of last financial year (FY18). A decline in FDI inflows could put pressure on the country's balance of payments and may also impact the value of the rupee.

The key sectors that received the maximum FDI during April-December period of FY19 include services ($5.91 billion), computer software and hardware ($4.75 billion), telecommunications ($2.29 billion), trading ($2.33 billion), chemicals ($6.05 billion), and the automobile industry ($1.81 billion).

Singapore was the largest source of FDI during April-December 2018-19 with $12.97 billion inflow, followed by Mauritius ($6 billion), the Netherlands ($2.95 billion), Japan ($2.21 billion), US ($2.34 billion), and the UK ($1.05 billion).

 
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10732.05, down by 3.40 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 10721.50 and 10756.95. There were 24 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.16%, Vedanta up by 2.12%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.00%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.94% and Indiabulls Housing Finance was up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 3.33%, BPCL down by 3.17%, IndusInd Bank down by 1.53%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.49% and Yes Bank was down by 1.33% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green, Hang Seng increased 191.68 points or 0.67% to 28,705.73, Nikkei 225 surged 109.81 points or 0.51% to 21,541.30, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 20.08 points or 0.20% to 10,292.54, KOSPI rose 1.52 points or 0.07% to 2,231.28, Straits Times advanced 3.36 points or 0.10% to 3,281.74, Jakarta Composite soared 4.26 points or 0.07% to 6,517.04 and Shanghai Composite was up by 10.06 points or 0.36% to 2,771.28.