Bourses turn volatile during late afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks turned volatile during late afternoon deals on account of weak opening of European markets. Trading sentiments got hit, with a private report stating that venture investments in the country declined marginally to $26.3 billion in 2018, even though there was a surge in number of deals announced. Investments by venture capital and private equity funds in the country declined in 2018 from $26.8 billion in the previous year. Adding more worries on the street, domestic rating agency India Ratings said that a fall in recoveries due to weak property markets in metros, coupled with rising delinquencies has led to weakening of the loans against property (LAP) segment for financiers. It further noted that other segments, especially commercial vehicle loans which were not doing so good recently, are showing signs of improvement.

On the sectoral front, sugar stocks came under pressure, after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its latest report said that India's sugar production is likely to decline 8.4 per cent to 30.3 million tonnes for the second straight year in the 2019-20 marketing year that would begin from October because of likely fall in sugarcane output. The sugar output in the ongoing 2018-19 marketing year (October-September) is pegged at 33 million tonnes, lower than 34.3 million tonnes achieved in the previous year.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Finland's economy expanded at a slightly slower pace in the first three months of the year. The preliminary estimates from Statistics Finland showed that gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter following a 0.7 percent increase in the final three months of 2018. However, Asian markets were trading in green, after US President Donald Trump said a settlement is possible with Beijing. Trump said he had a very good dialogue with China and insisted talks between the world's two largest economies had not collapsed.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37390.49, up by 71.96 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 37268.35 and 37559.67. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.30%, while Small cap index was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.68%, Energy up by 0.60%, FMCG up by 0.48%, TECK up by 0.27% and Oil & Gas up by 0.12%, while Utilities down by 1.23%, Power down by 1.14%, Telecom down by 1.10%, Metal down by 1.02% and Industrials down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 4.28%, ITC up by 1.51%, Infosys up by 1.25%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.98% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.76%, Tata Motors down by 5.89%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 4.98%, Indusind Bank down by 2.24% and Sun Pharma down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, raising concerns, the rating agency, India Ratings and Research's (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the performance of the loans against property (LAP) market got weakened, on the back of poor sentiment in the property market and the liquidity crunch faced by non-banking financial corporations.

As per the report, delinquency indices for the LAP transactions rated by the rating agency have been on the rise. It found 1.77% rise in 90-day overdue loans for LAP transactions in January from 1.05 per cent in the year-ago period.

Ind-Ra pointed that high loan-to-value and high-yield buckets have reported higher delinquencies. Further, in the case of commercial vehicle loans, the rating agency said its early delinquency index for rated CV loans fell to 7.53 per cent in January from 8.19 per cent in the year-ago period. Ind-Ra also said that new vehicle loans have performed better than the used vehicle loans, adding that the performance has improved across states.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11231.70, up by 9.65 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 11199.10 and 11286.80. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 4.45%, Eicher Motors up by 3.60%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.56%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.53% and ITC up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 6.80%, Zee Entertainment down by 6.12%, Tata Motors down by 6.10%, GAIL India down by 3.42% and JSW Steel down by 3.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 10.94 points or 0.53% to 2,092.78, Shanghai Composite gained 41.59 points or 1.44% to 2,925.20, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 59.93 points or 0.57% to 10,579.18, Nikkei 225 surged 110.08 points or 0.52% to 21,177.31 and Hang Seng was up by 259.96 points or 0.92% to 28,381.98. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 3.36 points or 0.1% to 3,220.35 and Jakarta Composite was down by 61.35 points or 1.01% to 6,009.85.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC lost 22.52 points or 0.42% to 5,318.83 and Germany’s DAX slipped 21.46 points or 0.18% to 11,970.16, while UK’s FTSE 100 was up by 14.37 points or 0.20% to 7,255.97.