Bourses continue to trade lackluster

Key Indian equity markets continued to trade lackluster in late afternoon session, despite firm opening in European markets. Domestic sentiments were cautious amid a private report stating that India will underperform this year compared to other emerging markets as valuations continue to be a concern for the country. Heavy selling at Telecom and IT counters along with sluggish trend in broader markets, also weighed on the markets. Investors paid no heed towards Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that infrastructure development and clearing backlog of defence procurement will be the government’s priorities for the future. He also noted that rural India development and improvement of healthcare and education would be the other priority areas.

On the sectoral front, stocks related to the realty industry remained in focus, amid reports that the all-powerful GST Council in its 34th meeting to be held on Tuesday is expected to take up various issues including the implementation of lower GST rates for the real estate sector.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Austria's consumer price inflation eased slightly in February to its lowest level in February. The figures from Statistics Austria showed that the consumer price index climbed 1.5 percent year-on-year in February, following a 1.8 percent rise in January. The latest inflation rate was the weakest since December 2016, when the price growth was 1.4 percent. The slowdown in inflation in February was largely driven by sharp decline in clothing prices and air fares. Asian markets were also trading in green.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38028.89, up by 4.57 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 37952.10 and 38369.59. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.25%, Oil & Gas up by 1.40%, Energy up by 1.23%, PSU up by 0.56% and Metal up by 0.51%, while Telecom down by 1.19%, IT down by 1.19%, Auto down by 1.16%, TECK down by 1.09% and Capital Goods down by 0.76% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.78%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.71%, Power Grid up by 1.64%, Tata Motors up by 1.64% and Tata Steel up by 1.40%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.73%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.94%, HCL Tech down by 1.35% and Infosys down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, foreseeing a better quality of life in urban slums and rural India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that infrastructure development and clearing backlog of defence procurement will be the government’s priorities for the future. He also noted that rural India development and improvement of healthcare and education would be the other priority areas.

Finance Minister further mentioned that some of the areas in the country are growing and some require support from the government for improving capacity like rural sector, adding that higher resources would help the government to spend more on infrastructure development.

Jaitley also underlined the efforts being taken by the government to maximise resources with lowering of the tax rate by following the theory of lower taxation higher compliance. Besides, he emphasized that in the last five years, there has not been a single incidence of increase in tax rate and rates in both direct and indirect taxes have been lowered.

While talking about Ayushman Bharat programme, he said 16 lakh people have benefited from this cashless insurance scheme of the government in the first four months of its launch and added that with this scheme suddenly 78 per cent of the population came under the health insurance cover.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11437.95, up by 11.10 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 11412.50 and 11530.15. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HPCL up by 3.88%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 3.59%, BPCL up by 3.10%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.97% and Axis Bank up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.64%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.50%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.04%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.84% and Grasim Industries down by 1.66% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 133.65 points or 0.62% to 21,584.50, Hang Seng increased 396.75 points or 1.37% to 29,409.01, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 73.46 points or 0.7% to 10,512.70, Jakarta Composite soared 27.85 points or 0.43% to 6,489.03, Shanghai Composite gained 68.22 points or 2.26% to 3,089.97, KOSPI rose 3.38 points or 0.16% to 2,179.49 and Straits Times was up 11.48 points or 0.36% to 3,211.66.

All the European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 49.84 points or 0.69% to 7,278.12, France’s CAC gained 8.84 points or 0.16% to 5,414.16 and Germany’s DAX was up by 6.24 points or 0.05% to 11,691.93.