Local equities add some more losses in morning deals

Local equity benchmarks extended their losses to continue lackluster trade in morning session tailing soft global cues. Yes Bank, Infosys and Reliance Industries were the prime losers among heavy-weights, pushing the Sensex lower. Traders reacted negatively to a private report that Indian businesses are getting squeezed. As economic growth slows and inflation sinks they have little ability to raise prices without losing sales, and yet they are getting almost no relief from borrowing costs with lending rates remaining high. Besides, another private report stated that India’s June-September monsoon, which delivers more than 70% of the country’s annual rainfall, is likely to be below normal this year as the El Nino weather pattern may impact rain. However, losses remained capped with Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India's exports are expected to reach $32.38 billion in March, the highest in any month so far, on account of healthy growth in sectors such as pharmaceuticals.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as the US and China kicked off a new round of trade talks in Washington. Back home, Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant has stated that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to bring a new set of regulations to ensure that borrowers repay their debt on time, following the Supreme Court's (SC) decision to strike down the RBI's February 12, 2018 circular as ultra vires as it allows rationalisation of the (Insolvency and) Bankruptcy Code.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38809.38, down by 67.74 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 38784.91 and 38939.35. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.68%, Realty up by 0.68%, Consumer Durables up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.42% and Healthcare was up by 0.26% while, IT down by 0.92%, Energy down by 0.88%, Oil & Gas down by 0.78%, Metal down by 0.74% and TECK was down by 0.65% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.20%, Tata Motors up by 1.39%, Asian Paints up by 1.26%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.14% and Power Grid was up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 1.81%, HCL Tech down by 1.67%, ONGC down by 1.22%, Reliance Industries down by 1.00% and Infosys was down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) in its latest report 'Cloud Next Wave of Growth in India' is expecting that growing adoption of Big Data, analytics, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things will push Indian cloud market to grow 3-fold to $7.1 billion by 2022. The report further said cloud spending in 2018 was estimated to be about six per cent of the total IT spending. Indian infrastructure as a service (IaaS) spending was estimated to be about $1 billion in 2018, and is forecast to grow at 25 per cent per annum to reach $2.32.4 billion in 2022. The report highlighted that factors that can drive the IaaS uptake in India are improved infrastructure, economic benefits, increased innovation, vibrant startup and connected ecosystem.

On the other hand, the report mentioned the Indian software as a service (SaaS) market is expected to grow at 36 per cent per annum and touch $3.3-3.4 billion by 2022. This boost is expected on the back of lower cost of workforce, abundant talent availability, mature sales eco-system, adoption of newer technologies like AI and machine learning to build products. Globally, the cloud spending on IT is growing at 16.5 per cent (CAGR) and is expected to touch $345 billion by 2022.

Besides, in order to accelerate the cloud growth momentum in India in the right strategic direction, the report recommended that the Indian government set out tangible time-bound targets for cloud and a sharper focus on the multitude of other infrastructural and operational factors (reliable power, sustainable land regulations, and high-speed connectivity).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11626.50, down by 17.45 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 11615.95 and 11661.30. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 2.20%, Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 2.09%, Titan Company up by 1.90%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.74% and Asian Paints was up by 1.22%. On the flip side, UPL down by 2.23%, Hindalco down by 2.11%, HCL Tech down by 1.93%, Wipro down by 1.39% and Yes Bank was down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed; Hang Seng decreased 133.23 points or 0.44% to 29,853.16, Nikkei 225 slipped 5.64 points or 0.03% to 21,707.57 and Straits Times was down by 1.69 points or 0.05% to 3,309.58.

On the other hand; KOSPI rose 1.47 points or 0.07% to 2,204.74, Jakarta Composite soared 13.33 points or 0.21% to 6,489.40 and Shanghai Composite was up by 16.49 points or 0.51% to 3,232.79.