Weak trade prevails in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the afternoon session, on account of selling by investors in the blue-chip counters amid subdued cues from the global front. Investors’ maintained cautious approach ahead of key macro data - index of industrial production (IIP) for April and consumer price index-based inflation for May scheduled to be released later today. Investors failed to take any sense of relief with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that it will infuse Rs 15,000 crore into the financial system through bond purchases on June 13. Based on an assessment of prevailing liquidity conditions and also of the durable liquidity needs going forward, the RBI has decided to conduct purchase of (six) Government securities under OMOs through multi-security auction using the multiple price method. On the sectoral front, textile sector remained in focus with Dilip Gaur, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) national committee on textile and apparel stating that India, which is emerging as a global textile hub and aims to be a $350-billion industry by 2025 from $137 billion now, needs to focus on man-made fibres to stay globally competitive.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as optimism over progress on US-China trade tensions appeared to fade and oil prices continued their decline. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39673.06, down by 277.40 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 39653.59 and 39982.10. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.57%, while Small cap index was down by 0.30%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.41%, Energy up by 0.13% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.08%, while Bankex down by 1.04%, Capital Goods down by 1.01%, Auto down by 0.95%, Realty down by 0.91% and Telecom was down by 0.90% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 1.79%, Sun Pharma up by 1.15%, ONGC up by 0.80%, Vedanta up by 0.77% and Reliance Industries was up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 2.80%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.87%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.65%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.56% and ICICI Bank was down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Steel Ministry has recommended its commerce counterpart to bring certain changes in norms used for imposing anti-dumping duties in order to making them more effective for protecting domestic players in the sector against cheap imports. The government has imposed anti-dumping duty on several steel products from countries including China.

However, in certain cases, the imposition of duties was not able to contain dumping of products and the government had to initiate anti-circumvention investigations. The ministry has also highlighted issues related to impact of free trade agreements being signed by India with its trading partners, including Japan and South Korea.

Steel industry wants the Commerce Ministry to exclude steel from the purview of the proposed mega free trade agreement - The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). China is a part of this agreement and the industry is of the view that cut in customs duties on steel would lead to flooding of products into India from the neighbouring country, significantly impacting domestic manufacturing. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11885.70, down by 79.90 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 11876.85 and 11962.45. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.00%, GAIL India up by 1.83%, Sun Pharma up by 1.22%, Cipla up by 1.18% and Vedanta was up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 6.73%, Yes Bank down by 2.83%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.01%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.81% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 541.73 points or 1.95% to 27,247.61, Nikkei 225 slipped 74.56 points or 0.35% to 21,129.72, Jakarta Composite lost 32.75 points or 0.52% to 6,273.24, Shanghai Composite declined 12.63 points or 0.43% to 2,913.09, Straits Times trembled 11.59 points or 0.36% to 3,197.99 and KOSPI was down by 3.06 points or 0.14% to 2,108.75.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was up by 7.90 points or 0.07% to 10,615.66.