Bourses trade near day’s low

Indian equities extended their losses in late afternoon session to trade near their intraday low points, despite firm opening in European markets. Traders remained pessimistic, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast to the lowest level since the financial crisis, warning of significant downside risks to the world economy including trade tensions, pockets of political instability, mounting debt levels and increasing inequality. The IMF lowered its growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent from the previous level of 3.5 percent in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO). 

On the sectoral front, stocks related to the auto industry were trading mixed, as automobile dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said that retail sales of passenger vehicles (PV) in March declined by 10 per cent to 2,42,708 units as compared to the same period last year. PV sales stood at 2,69,176 units in March 2018. Further, airlines stocks remained in focus, after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked each of the airlines to bring individual medium-term plan on enhancing overall availability of domestic flights, in a bid to curb rising airfares.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after Finland's trade balance led to a surplus in February as exports rose, while imports were broadly unchanged. The data from the Finnish Customs showed that trade balance swung to a surplus of EUR 95 million in February from a deficit of EUR 95 million in the same month previous year. In January, trade deficit was EUR 40 million. Exports rose 7 percent year-on-year, while imports were unchanged. Asian markets were trading mixed.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38672.12, down by 267.10 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 38608.50 and 38950.45. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.38%, Healthcare up by 0.74%, Industrials up by 0.40%, Auto up by 0.23% and Capital Goods up by 0.09%, while Telecom down by 1.11%, Metal down by 0.97%, Bankex down by 0.66%, Utilities down by 0.64% and TECK down by 0.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.51%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.63%, Sun Pharma up by 1.02%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.01% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.79%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.88%, Vedanta down by 1.87%, HDFC down by 1.78%, Asian Paints down by 1.76% and HCL Tech. down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest edition of the fiscal monitor report has said that some reforms in India show the benefits of digitalization and reducing opportunities for discretion and fraud.

IMF highlighted the benefits of implementation of e-procurement system in country, saying that the move enhanced competition and led to better quality of construction. Besides, it said that the adoption of an electronic platform for managing a social assistance programme in India resulted in a 17 per cent decline in spending with no corresponding decline in benefits.

International Monetary Fund also underlined reforms done on state level, noting that in Andhra Pradesh, the use of smart ID cards that are used to identify beneficiaries of specific programmes and improve beneficiaries' access to information helped reduce leakage by 41 per cent relative to the control group.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11606.40, down by 65.55 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 11583.85 and 11680.05. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.66%, Cipla up by 2.91%, Wipro up by 2.52%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.13% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.86%, Asian Paints down by 2.05%, HDFC Bank down by 2.05%, TCS down by 1.98% and HDFC down by 1.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Shanghai Composite rose 2.27 points or 0.07% to 3,241.93, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 16.54 points or 0.15% to 10,868.14, KOSPI rose 10.83 points or 0.49% to 2,224.39 and Straits Times was up by 2.70 points or 0.08% to 3,328.30. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite dropped 18.88 points or 0.29% to 6,465.47, Hang Seng decreased 86.26 points or 0.29% to 30,071.23 and Nikkei 225 was down by 115.02 points or 0.53% to 21,687.57.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 23.32 points or 0.43% to 5,459.74 and Germany’s DAX was up by 51.42 points or 0.43% to 11,901.99. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 0.69 points or 0.01% to 7,424.88.