Sensex, Nifty trade lackluster

Indian equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, were trading lackluster in late afternoon deals, on account of weak opening in European markets. Profit booking in the recent gainers, dragged the markets near their neutral lines. Trading sentiments also got hit with a private report stating that the value of merger and acquisition deals announced in April stood at $735 million (over Rs 5,100 crore), a decline of 96 per cent from the year-ago period. According to a report, in April last year, the total M&A deal value stood at $19,142 million. But, key indices managed to keep their heads above water, as India Inc expressed hope that a stable government at the centre will boost growth in the country and lead to higher foreign fund inflows as trends pointed to BJP and allies returning to power with a thumping majority.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, after Germany's business confidence weakened for a second straight month and at a faster-than-expected pace in May. The survey results from the Ifo Institute showed that the Ifo business confidence index fell to 97.9 from 99.2 in April. Asian markets were also trading in red, as investors fret about the adverse effects of trade tensions on global economic growth.

Back home, airlines stocks were trading mixed, as the domestic air passenger count fell 4.50% in the month of April 2019. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 109.95 lakh passengers in April 2019, as against 115.13 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39178.98, up by 68.77 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 39063.87 and 40124.96. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.45%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.84%, Capital Goods up by 1.59%, Industrials up by 1.45%, Power up by 1.38% and Bankex up by 1.30%, while FMCG down by 1.22%, Consumer Durables down by 0.85%, Metal down by 0.47% and IT down by 0.43% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 6.23%, Yes Bank up by 2.98%, ICICI Bank up by 2.84%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.38% and Bharti Airtel up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 4.06%, ITC down by 3.02%, HDFC Bank down by 1.96%, TCS down by 1.13% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the domestic air passenger count fell 4.50% in the month of April 2019. According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data, domestic airlines flew 109.95 lakh passengers in April 2019, as against 115.13 lakh passengers carried in the same month of last year. However, passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-April 2019 were 464.47 lakh as against 453.03 lakh during the corresponding period of previous year, registering a growth of 2.53%.

In terms of passenger load factor (PLF), SpiceJet was leading among all with 93.7% PLF during the month of April 2019, followed by Go Air (90.8%), IndiGo (87.8%), Vistara (84.6%) and Air Asia (84.4%). The passenger load factor in the month of April 2019 has shown decreasing trend compared to previous month due to end of vacation period of various sectors. Further, the overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of April 2019 has been 0.76%.

In terms of on time performance (OTP), Go Air has taken lead from the rest with 96.3% of its flights arriving and departing as per schedule from four metro airports, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, followed by Air Asia (93.0%) and Vistara (92.8%). During April 2019, a total of1218 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of April 2019 has been around 1.11.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11765.80, up by 27.90 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 11731.60 and 12041.15. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 6.54%, Zee Entertainment up by 6.22%, Indusind Bank up by 6.16%, Grasim Industries up by 4.71% and Yes Bank up by 2.91%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.79%, ITC down by 3.09%, Eicher Motors down by 2.89%, HDFC Bank down by 1.85% and Hindalco down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng lost 499.03 points or 1.8% to 27,206.91, Taiwan Weighted dropped 148.85 points or 1.42% to 10,308.37, Nikkei 225 slipped 132.23 points or 0.62% to 21,151.14, Shanghai Composite declined 38.36 points or 1.33% to 2,853.34, Straits Times trembled 20.70 points or 0.65% to 3,162.44 and KOSPI fell 5.27 points or 0.26% to 2,059.59. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 101.92 points or 1.72% to 6,041.56.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 78.69 points or 1.07% to 7,255.5, France’s CAC fell 81.34 points or 1.51% to 5,297.64 and Germany’s DAX was down by 193.79 points or 1.59% to 11,974.95.