Lackluster trade continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in afternoon session, amid mixed signals from other Asian markets, as selling pressure appeared in Metal, Energy and Oil & Gas stocks with Sensex and Nifty tumbling by 209 and 78 points respectively. The mood on the street remained cautious with ICRA’s latest report stating that the housing finance growth may slow down to 13-15% in current financial year (FY20), lower than the average of the past three years, due to the lingering liquidity issues faced by non-banking lenders. It highlighted the issues with the non-banking lenders since last September that has seen a slew of companies like DHFL and Reliance Capital suffering, slowed down credit growth of dedicated housing finance companies to 10% in last financial year (FY19). Further, sentiments’ were too downbeat as India Meteorological Department stated that the overall monsoon deficiency in the country has reached 43 per cent due to its sluggish pace. However, losses remain limited with the Reserve Bank of India’s report showing that inching closer to its historic peak, India's forex kitty increased by $1.686 billion to $423.554 billion for the week to June 7.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors were cautious ahead of a closely-watched Federal Reserve meeting, while political tensions in the Middle East and Hong Kong kept risk-appetite in check. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, shares of Shriram Transport Finance Company slipped as Piramal Enterprises has sold its entire direct investment of 9.96% in the fully paid-up share capital in the company to third party investors on the floor of the stock exchange. Besides, Oriental Veneer Products edged up with its arm bagging order worth Rs 900.51 million.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39242.70, down by 209.37 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 39204.90 and 39540.42. There were 5 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.51%, while Small cap index was down by 0.67%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was IT up by 0.07%, while Metal down by 2.01%, Energy down by 1.50%, Oil & Gas down by 1.43%, Basic Materials down by 1.38% and PSU was down by 0.91% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.50%, Yes Bank up by 0.39%, Infosys up by 0.30%, Asian Paints up by 0.12% and TCS was up by 0.03%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.32%, Vedanta down by 2.54%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.99%, Reliance Industries down by 1.66% and Axis Bank was down by 1.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s merchandise exports grew by 3.93 percent in May to $29.99 billion as compared to same period of last year, on the back of healthy growth in electronics and chemicals shipments. However, trade deficit, gap between imports and exports, widened to $15.36 billion during the month under review, as against the deficit of $14.62 billion in May 2018.
 
As per the data released by the Commerce Ministry, merchandise exports grew by 3.93% to $29.99 billion in May 2019, as compared to $28.86 billion in the same month a year ago. In Rupee terms, exports were higher by 7.36% to Rs 2,09,280.62 crore in May 2019, as compared to Rs 1,94,928.45 crore in May 2018. Cumulative value of exports for the period April-May 2019-20 was $56.07 billion as against $54.77 billion during the period April- May 2018-19, registering a positive growth of 2.37%. In Rupee terms, it was up by 6.94% to Rs 3,90,301.96 crore from Rs 3,64,981.41 crore.

Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in May 2019 were $21.42 billion, as compared to $19.94 billion in May 2018, exhibiting a positive growth of 7.42%. Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in April- May 2019-20 were $40.96 billion, as compared to $39.74 billion for the corresponding period in 2018-19, an increase of 3.07%.

On the other hand, imports during May 2019 rose by 4.31% to $45.35 billion as compared to imports of  $43.48 billion in May 2018, and in rupee terms it was up by 7.76% to Rs 3,16,448.93 crore from Rs 2,93,660.48 crore in March 2018. Cumulative value of imports for the period April- May 2019-20 was $86.75 billion, as against $83.11 billion during the period April- May 2018-19, registering a positive growth of 4.39%. In rupee terms, it was Rs 6,03,881.86 crore, up by 9.05% from Rs 5,53,745.15 crore in the same period last year.

Oil imports in May 2019 were $12.44 billion, which was 8.23% higher, compared to $11.50 billion in May 2018. Oil imports in April- May 2019-20 were $23.82 billion which was 8.72% higher compared to $21.91 billion, over the same period last year. Non-oil imports were estimated at $32.91 billion in May 2019. Non-oil imports in April- May 2019-20 were $62.93 billion which was 2.84% higher, compared to $61.19 billion in April- May 2018-19. Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were $28.13 billion in May 2019, down 1.31% over the same period of last year. Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were $54.18 billion in April- May 2019-20, down 1.73%, over the same period of last year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11745.40, down by 77.90 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 11742.65 and 11844.05. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 0.43%, Wipro up by 0.42%, Indiabulls Housing up by 0.41%, Zee Entertainment up by 0.33% and Infosys was up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.15%, JSW Steel down by 3.50%, Vedanta down by 3.07%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.07% and Grasim Industries was down by 2.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI fell 2.89 points or 0.14% to 2,092.52, Jakarta Composite lost 19.41 points or 0.31% to 6,230.86, Straits Times trembled 1.51 points or 0.05% to 3,221.12 and Nikkei 225 was up by 43.36 points or 0.21% to 21,160.25. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 205.39 points or 0.76% to 27,323.74, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 15.62 points or 0.15% to 10,540.29 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.03 points or 0.24% to 2,889.00.