Local equities continue to trade flat

Local equity benchmarks trading flat with a negative bias in morning session, tailing weak global cues. A level of pressure was seen on frontline stocks, especially Energy and Oil & Gas. Traders took note of President Donald Trump’s statement that India charges America over 100% tariffs on a large number of products while the US imposes nothing on the similar or same items. He said, urging his administration to work on the ‘stupid trade’. Investors also noted Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that he has underlined a need to develop a proper matrix to understand changes in the Indian economy and job creation that is happening at a rapid pace. However, losses remain capped with World Bank’s report that India’s economic growth in recent years has been ‘too much’ driven by domestic demand and its exports were about one third of its potential, asserting that the next government needs to focus on export-led growth. Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated that India is expected to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030 with GDP touching $10 trillion, helped by consumption and investment growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, afternoon as investors digested better-than-expected jobs data in the US and reports of progress in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. Back home, PHD Chamber of Commerce has said that India’s imports from China stood at $60 billion during the April-January period of 2018-19 fiscal, a deceleration of 5% over the corresponding period a year ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38856.51, down by 5.72 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 38828.97 and 39041.25. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.92%, Utilities up by 0.74%, Telecom up by 0.68%, Capital Goods up by 0.44% and Industrials was up by 0.26%, while Energy down by 0.68%, Oil & Gas down by 0.61%, Realty down by 0.55%, Metal down by 0.23% and Auto was down by 0.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.76%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.58%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.97%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.95% and NTPC was up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 1.25%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.07%, Yes Bank down by 0.92%, Asian Paints down by 0.91% and HCL Tech was down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to understand changes in the Indian economy and job creation that is happening at a rapid pace, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said there is a need to develop a proper matrix.  He stated that the relation between employment generation to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will always undergo a change depending upon the profile of the economy.

The Minister further said that despite the fact that only 16 per cent of the GDP comes from agriculture, the sector engages over 60 per cent of the country's population. Moreover, he said that in 1960s and 1970s, the government used to provide bulk of the jobs and then came the private sector. He added that now start-ups too are providing huge job opportunities but the challenge is to capture that data.

Besides, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan recently raised doubts over the Indian economy growing at 7 per cent when not enough jobs were being created.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11655.20, down by 10.75 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 11644.40 and 11710.30. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 1.71%, IndusInd Bank up by 1.46%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.98%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.96% and Zee Entertainment was up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.70%, BPCL down by 1.63%, Vedanta down by 1.43%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.10% and Asian Paints was down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite dropped 75.55 points or 1.17% to 6,398.47, Nikkei 225 slipped 53.74 points or 0.25% to 21,753.76, Straits Times trembled 9.26 points or 0.28% to 3,313.38, Shanghai Composite declined 2.93 points or 0.09% to 3,243.64 and KOSPI was down by 0.82 points or 0.04% to 2,208.79.

On the other hand, Hang Seng increased 67.17 points or 0.22% to 30,003.49 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 89.04 points or 0.83% to 10,793.42.