Sensex, Nifty near day’s low points

Key equity benchmarks extended their losses in late afternoon session to trade near their intraday low points, on account of weak opening in European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader markets were too trading in red in noon deals. Domestic sentiments remained downbeat, as Fitch Ratings in its Global Economic Outlook lowered India’s Gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 6.8% for fiscal year 2020  from 7% estimated earlier, on the back of weaker than expected momentum in the economy. Traders failed to take any sense of relief with reports that the government extended IGST (Integrated Goods and Service Tax) and compensation cess exemptions for goods procurement under certain export promotion schemes till March 2020. These exemptions have been extended for exporters buying inputs domestically or importing for export purposes under export oriented unit (EOU) scheme, Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme and advance authorisation.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, after UK consumer price inflation unexpectedly accelerated in February for the first time in six months. The preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the consumer price index rose 1.9 percent year-on-year following a 1.8 percent increase in January. However, Asian markets were trading in green.

On the sectoral front, airlines stocks were trading higher, after the domestic air passenger volume rose at growth of 5.62% in the month of February 2019. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 113.49 lakh passengers in February 2019, as against 107.44 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38171.96, down by 214.79 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 38128.24 and 38564.71. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.75%, Power up by 0.67%, Capital Goods up by 0.61%, Utilities up by 0.42% and Industrials up by 0.05%, while Energy down by 1.44%, Telecom down by 1.41%, Auto down by 1.11%, Oil & Gas down by 0.94% and PSU down by 0.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.86%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.52%, Tata Steel up by 1.25%, Power Grid up by 0.76% and Axis Bank up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.36%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.96%, HCL Tech. down by 1.94%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.91% and Tata Motors down by 1.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the domestic air passenger volume rose at slower growth of 5.62% in the month of February 2019 as against 24.14% in February 2018. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 113.49 lakh passengers in February 2019, as against 107.44 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

As per the report, the domestic air passenger count increased 7.42% during the period of January- February 2019. Indian carriers carried 238.56 lakh passengers during January- February 2019 as against 222.09 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year. Further, in terms of passenger load factor (PLF), SpiceJet reported 94.0% PLF during the month of February 2019, followed by Go Air (92.6%), Air Asia (91.8%) and Jet Airways (89.4%). The passenger load factor in the month of February has shown increasing trend primarily due to airlines offering promotional fares resulting in increased demand.

In terms of on time performance (OTP), Go Air has taken lead from the rest with 86.3% of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule from four metro airports, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, followed by Vistara (81.6%) and Spicejet (77.1%). During February 2019, a total of 983 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of Feb 2019 has been around 0.87.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11463.45, down by 57.60 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 11444.80 and 11572.80. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.25%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.72%, JSW Steel up by 1.70%, Tata Steel up by 1.29% and Power Grid up by 0.81%. On the flip side, HPCL down by 2.49%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.32%, Coal India down by 2.30%, BPCL down by 2.15% and Tata Motors down by 1.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 41.80 points or 0.14% to 29,113.36, Shanghai Composite gained 2.69 points or 0.09% to 3,104.15, Jakarta Composite rose 23.49 points or 0.36% to 6,525.27, KOSPI rose 2.07 points or 0.09% to 2,186.95, Nikkei 225 added 18.42 points or 0.09% to 21,627.34 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 29.52 points or 0.28% to 10,639.07. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 1.27 points or 0.04% to 3,212.38.

All the European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 52.37 points or 0.71% to 7,302.94, France’s CAC fell 39.88 points or 0.74% to 5,338.97 and Germany’s DAX was down by 62.39 points or 0.54% to 11,487.57.