Sensex, Nifty trade marginally lower in early noon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in early noon session amid downbeat global market sentiment and foreign fund outflows. Traders were seen in selling position for Energy, Bankex and Industrials stocks, while buying was witnessed in IT, TECK and Consumer Discretionary stocks. The sentiment remained subdued as India’s retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) continued northward journey for third straight month and inched up to a 6-month high of 2.92% in April 2019 due to a spike in food prices, including vegetables, meat, fish and eggs. Some cautiousness also persisted on the street with Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service’s report on regulatory and security policies in emerging markets stating that India’s rising oil and gas consumption will support its investments in refining capacity additions and upstream production. However, it pointed out that imports will keep growing amid stagnant production and government pressure for shareholder returns will temper national oil company (NOC) credit quality.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red; China announced higher tariffs on $60 billion worth of American goods in retaliation for President Donald Trump's latest penalties on Chinese products. Back home, in scrip specific development, Muthoot Finance edged up on reporting marginal rise of 0.63% in its net profit at Rs 511.50 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 as compared to Rs 508.29 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37053.69, down by 37.13 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 36998.44 and 37146.58. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.44%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.56%, Bankex up by 0.30%, Industrials up by 0.30%, Oil & Gas up by 0.28% and Utilities was up by 0.26%, while IT down by 1.44%, TECK down by 1.30%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.64%, Realty down by 0.61% and Auto was down by 0.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.46%, Vedanta up by 2.27%, Tata Motors up by 1.64%, ICICI Bank up by 1.50% and Indusind Bank was up by 1.33%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 1.82%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.78%, Infosys down by 1.67%, TCS down by 1.66% and Tata Steel was down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service in its latest report on regulatory and security policies in emerging markets has stated that India’s rising oil and gas consumption will support its investments in refining capacity additions and upstream production. However, it pointed out that imports will keep growing amid stagnant production and government pressure for shareholder returns will temper national oil company (NOC) credit quality.

According to the report, the country's oil import dependence has risen from 82.9 percent in 2017-18 to 83.7 percent in 2018-19. Import dependence in 2015-16 was 80.6 percent. It also said that all petroleum products in India are now sold at prices linked to international or regional market rates, which has opened up the fuel retail market. However, it said that national oil companies - Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) continue to enjoy over 90 percent market share in petroleum product distribution. It indicated that the three oil refining and marketing NOCs control 57,944 petrol pumps out of a total of 64,624 petrol pumps in the country.

The global rating agency further indicated that the country’s oil consumption grew to 211.6 million tonnes (MT) in 2018-19 from 206.2 MT in 2017-18. It noted that fuel consumption was 184.7 MT in 2015-16. It added that though the country is short in producing crude oil, which is turned into fuel at refineries, it manufactures surplus petroleum products. In 2018-19, production of petroleum products was 262.4 MT.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11136.80, down by 11.40 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 11109.20 and 11157.95. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 3.22%, Vedanta up by 2.50%, GAIL India up by 2.21%, Indiabulls Housing up by 2.03% and Adani Ports &Special was up by 2.00%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.55%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.98%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.86%, Tata Steel down by 1.63% and Infosys was down by 1.61% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; KOSPI fell 0.70 points or 0.03% to 2,078.31, Shanghai Composite declined 10.36 points or 0.36% to 2,893.35, Straits Times trembled 27.63 points or 0.85% to 3,206.65, Taiwan Weighted dropped 35.13 points or 0.33% to 10,523.16, Jakarta Composite lost 73.50 points or 1.2% to 6,061.90, Nikkei 225 slipped 156.68 points or 0.74% to 21,034.60 and Hang Seng was down by 452.48 points or 1.58% to 28,097.76.