Bourses turn negative as India-Pak tensions escalate

Indian equities erased all the gains to turn negative in afternoon session, on the back of selling appeared in Metal, Telecom and Oil & Gas stocks. The sudden selling pressure in stock markets came after geo-political tensions escalated after Pakistan today claimed 'strikes across Line of Control from within Pakistani airspace' a day after Indian fighter jets destroyed a vast terror camp within Pakistan in a pre-dawn strike. Sentiments were also down with the government data showing that fiscal deficit touched 121.5 percent of the full-year revised target of Rs 6.34 lakh crore at the end of January on account of lower revenue collections. The fiscal deficit, or the gap between the government's expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 7.70 lakh crore during April-January of the current financial year ending March. At the end of January 2018, the deficit was 113.7 percent of the Revised Estimate (RE). On the sectoral front, steel sector remained in focus with ratings agency ICRA stating that the steel sector has turned out to be one of the major beneficiaries of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Out of the 40 large defaulting accounts identified by the RBI in 2017, 11 entities belonged to the steel sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as investors awaited the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35780.69, down by 193.02 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 35775.28 and 36371.11. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.06%, while Small cap index was down by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.61%, Power up by 0.15%, Basic Materials up by 0.10%, Utilities up by 0.09% and Industrials up by 0.05%, while Metal down by 0.90%, Telecom down by 0.87%, Oil & Gas down by 0.80%, TECK down by 0.79% and IT down by 0.74% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.52%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.25%, Axis Bank up by 1.02%, NTPC up by 1.00% and Sun Pharma up by 0.87%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 2.74%, Tata Motors down by 2.57%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.31%, HDFC down by 1.44% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Power Minister R K Singh has said that India is all set to achieve 100 percent household electrification by the year ended March 31, 2019 as envisaged in the Saubhagya scheme and the next goal is to achieve round the clock power supply to all households. Under the Rs 16,320 crore Saubhagya scheme, 2,52,51,880 unelectrified households were to be electrified by March 31. Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are in the process of energising the remaining 22,691 families left out.

About an objective to provide 24x7 power across the country, Singh said that the government has allocated Rs 1.6 lakh crore for strengthening distribution network in the country and the objective would be achieved as lot work is being done and there is a requirement for equipment like poles, cables to implement that. Laying the roadmap for achieving 24X7 power for all households, he said that this will be done by strengthening the distribution network, improving the DISCOMs' health, reducing the transmission & distribution losses, using technology to improve billing and collection efficiency and energy efficiency. 

On the issue of payment security mechanism for private sector power generators as suggested by the high-level committee on stressed power assets, the minister said that the recommendations are under consideration and the government would discuss it with the RBI before going ahead. Talking about the infusion of renewable energy, he said that clean energy share would increase in future but the coal-based power would stay for some time because demand would further increase with the addition of 2.5 crore new subscribers and economic development. On coal shortage, he informed that coal reserves at power plants are for 12 to 13 days at present and the power ministry is discussing the issue with coal and railway ministries to improve supplies in view of increasing power demand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10761.95, down by 73.35 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 10751.20 and 10939.70. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 1.40%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.35%, NTPC up by 1.07%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.80% and Axis Bank up by 0.72%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.52%, Vedanta down by 3.01%, Tata Motors down by 2.98%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.86% and Indian Oil Corp. down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Shanghai Composite gained 3.80 points or 0.13% to 2,945.32, KOSPI rose 8.19 points or 0.37% to 2,234.79, Straits Times advanced 3.37 points or 0.1% to 3,265.03 and Nikkei 225 surged 107.12 points or 0.5% to 21,556.51.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 12.91 points or 0.2% to 6,528.04, Hang Seng decreased 57.82 points or 0.2% to 28,714.24 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 2.38 points or 0.02% to 10,389.17.