Bourses trade near neutral lines

Bourses were trading near their neutral lines with a negative bias in late afternoon session, tracking weak European markets. Sentiments remained lackluster, with CARE Ratings’ report stating that economic slowdown has begun to dent the credit profile of India Inc. There has been a deterioration in the credit quality of entities rated in the first quarter of the current financial year, showing effect of the prevailing slowdown in the Indian economy. But, downside was capped, as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank will discuss with the government the issuance of overseas sovereign bonds, an instrument that will help reduce dependence on the domestic market for bridging fiscal deficit.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as UK retail sales logged its worst June on record. The data from the British Retail Consortium showed that like-for-like sales decreased 1.6 percent year-on-year in June. Total sales were down 1.3 percent. Asian markets were also trading in red, after Malaysia central bank retained its key interest rate as policymakers assessed the current stance supportive of economic activity. The Monetary Policy Committee of Bank Negara Malaysia decided to leave the overnight policy rate at 3.00 percent.

Back home, metal stocks remained in watch, after India has initiated a probe into alleged dumping of flat rolled products of stainless steel from 15 countries including China, the US and Japan following complaints by domestic players.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38706.32, down by 14.25 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 38435.87 and 38814.23. There were 13 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.42%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.99%, Realty up by 1.89%, Capital Goods up by 1.65%, Energy up by 1.43% and Industrials up by 0.80%, while Consumer Durables down by 6.90%, Consumer Disc down by 1.20%, IT down by 1.11%, TECK down by 0.98% and FMCG down by 0.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 6.63%, Bajaj Finance up by 5.51%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.62%, Reliance Industries up by 1.92% and Hero MotoCorp up by 1.55%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.97%, HCL Tech. down by 1.61%, Asian Paints down by 1.60%, HDFC down by 1.46% and Yes Bank down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an efforts to reduce dependence on the domestic market for bridging fiscal deficit, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the central bank will discuss the issuance of overseas sovereign bonds with the government. The RBI issues bonds on behalf of the government as part of the resource mobilisation exercise to fund gap between revenue and expenditure.

The RBI Governor further hailed the government's move to slash fiscal deficit target, saying that it will help improve investment by the private sector as crowding out impact will be less.

Besides, Das noted that there is fiscal glide path which the government is maintaining in the last five years. He said that the government started with a fiscal deficit number of 4.5 per cent and now, it has gone down to 3.3 per cent. So, overall, it will be good for microeconomic situation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11534.65, down by 23.95 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 11461.00 and 11582.55. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 6.91%, Bajaj Finance up by 5.46%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 4.27%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.54% and Ultratech Cement up by 3.02%. On the flip side, Titan down by 12.76%, UPL down by 4.01%, GAIL India down by 2.71%, TCS down by 2.03% and HCL Tech. down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 184.85 points or 0.65% to 28,146.84, Taiwan Weighted dropped 48.44 points or 0.45% to 10,702.78, KOSPI fell 12.14 points or 0.59% to 2,052.03, Shanghai Composite declined 6.43 points or 0.22% to 2,926.93 and Straits Times was down by 0.89 points or 0.03% to 3,333.34. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 21.69 points or 0.34% to 6,373.52 and Nikkei 225 was up by 30.80 points or 0.14% to 21,565.15.

All European markets were trading in red; FTSE lost 23.01 points or 0.30% to 7,526.26, CAC fell 37.18 points or 0.67% to 5,552.01 and DAX was down by 158.85 points or 1.27% to 12,384.66.