Lackluster trade continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in early noon session, tracking weak cues from global equities amid concerns of a global economic slowdown. Weak broader indices along with sell off at Realty, Healthcare and Power counters dragged the markets down. The mood on the street remained cautious as the finance ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection registered at Rs 99,939 crore in the month of June 2019. The growth was sluggish as compared to Rs 1,00,289 crore in May 2019. Though, June collection was higher than Rs 95,610 crore in the same month of the previous year.  Meanwhile, The Ministry of Steel has released draft steel scrap policy, which is aimed at promoting circular economy in the steel sector and produce high-quality ferrous scrap for quality steel production thus reducing dependence on imports. The policy also aims to promote resource efficiency in the steel sector.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as weak global manufacturing activity reinforced worries about slowing world growth, while the initial enthusiasm over a Sino-U.S. trade truce gave way to uncertainty over whether the two nations can strike a durable deal. Back on street, in scrip specific developments, Prakash Industries edged up on getting surface right permission to operate mines in Odisha. However, Eicher Motors slipped with its motorcycle arm reporting 22% decline in June sales.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39564.00, down by 122.50 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 39499.19 and 39811.68. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.62%, Utilities up by 0.61%, Power up by 0.59%, Telecom up by 0.29% and PSU was up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 1.74%, Healthcare down by 0.68%, Bankex down by 0.66%, Auto down by 0.53%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.33% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 1.89%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.73%, NTPC up by 0.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.33% and Power Grid was up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.18%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.88%, Sun Pharma down by 2.74%, Tata Motors down by 2.38% and Bajaj Auto was down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of India's eight core sectors has improved to 5.1% in May 2019 against 4.1% in the same month last year, helped by rise in output in steel and electricity. However, growth in the core sectors slowed to 5.1% in May 2019 as compared to revised 6.3 percent in April 2019. According to data released by the ministry of Commerce and Industry, the combined Index of eight core industries stood at 138.7 in May, 2019, which was 5.1% higher compared to the index of May, 2018. Its cumulative growth during April to May, 2019-20 was 5.7%. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).  

Among eight core sectors, Coal production having 10.33% weight rose 1.8% in May, 2019 over May, 2018, and its cumulative index increased by 2.5% during April to May, 2019-20 over corresponding period of the previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04% weight declined 1.5% in May, 2019 over May, 2018, while its cumulative index increased by 1.3% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The Natural Gas production having 6.88% weight remain unchanged in May, 2019 over May, 2018, and its cumulative index was down by 0.4% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production having 17.92% weight increased by 19.9% in May, 2019 over May, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 19.4% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85% weight jumped by 7.2% in May, 2019 over May, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 6.6% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.  

Cement production having 5.37% weight increased by 2.8% in May, 2019 over May, 2018 and its cumulative index increased by 2.5% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having 2.63% weight fell by 1.0% in May, 2019 over May, 2018, and its cumulative index declined by 2.6% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 8.98% weight declined by 6.9% in May, 2019 over May, 2018 and its cumulative index fell by 6.8% during April to May, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11834.00, down by 31.60 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 11814.70 and 11892.70. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.64%, ONGC up by 1.86%, BPCL up by 1.26%, Zee Entertainment up by 0.99% and Coal India up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.96%, Sun Pharma down by 2.86%, Tata Motors down by 2.44%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.34% and Hero MotoCorp was down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite declined 7.46 points or 0.24% to 3,037.44, KOSPI fell 6.25 points or 0.29% to 2,123.49, Straits Times trembled 15.64 points or 0.46% to 3,356.62, Taiwan Weighted dropped 30.34 points or 0.28% to 10,865.12 and Jakarta Composite was down by 3.46 points or 0.05% to 6,376.23.

On the other side, Nikkei 225 surged 16.48 points or 0.08% to 21,746.45 and Hang Seng was up by 330.62 points or 1.16% to 28,873.24.