Key gauges turn red in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks pared all of their gains to enter into red terrain in late morning deals as traders turned pessimistic with Moody’s Investors Service’s statement that weak growth prospects for India will complicate the government's fiscal consolidation efforts, weighing on the sovereign's credit quality. Selling in metal and auto stocks too dampened sentiments, while traders opted to buy stocks related to FMCG and banking space.

On the sectoral front, consumer durables stocks edged higher with a private report that the consumer durables industry in India will reach $36 billion by 2023 and a whopping $23 billion sales would be digitally influenced. However, power stocks edged lower with private report that imposition of auction ceiling prices and delays in commissioning of awarded projects have lowered near-term growth outlook of wind power sector in India.

In scrip specific developments, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) remained in focus after it announced its June quarter numbers post market hours on Tuesday. The IT bellwether posted a net profit of Rs 8,131 crore, a 10.8 per cent rise on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis. In another key development, IndiGo promoters Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal have made serious allegations against each other, forcing the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to intervene.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38663.11, down by 67.71 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 38610.29 and 38854.85. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index shed 0.31%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.67%, FMCG up by 0.19% and Bankex was up by 0.10%, while Industrials down by 0.86%, Capital Goods down by 0.67%, Metal down by 0.66%, Auto down by 0.57% and Realty down by 0.53% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 1.92%, Asian Paints up by 0.61%, ITC up by 0.57%, HDFC up by 0.39% and ICICI Bank up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.01%, Tata Motors down by 2.89%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.45% and Vedanta down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Vice-chairman of Niti Aayog Rajiv Kumar has said the target of achieving an economy of $5 trillion within 2024-25 is 'eminently' doable. Kumar said the government alone will not be able to meet the target of achieving the $5 trillion economy. The private investors will have to take the lead.

He highlighted, there are several initiatives mentioned in the budget which point out to the willingness of the government to work along with the private sector. These included hike in the disinvestment target, governmental support to NBFCs and long-term plan to deepen the corporate bond markets.

He further said structural reforms in the agriculture sector will also have to carry out. This is key to the achievement of $5 trillion economy. There is a need to modernise the farm sector. Besides, he stated India is not an autocratic country and adding that whatever needed to be done had to be within the democratic framework.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11526.40, down by 29.50 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 11516.30 and 11593.70. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 1.86%, Titan Company up by 1.36%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.10%, Coal India up by 0.94% and Wipro up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.95%, JSW Steel down by 2.57%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.06%, Hindalco down by 1.69% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 11.85 points or 0.58% to 2,063.88, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 78.87 points or 0.74% to 10,781.65, Hang Seng increased 99.58 points or 0.35% to 28,215.86, Straits Times advanced 17.10 points or 0.51% to 3,346.56 and Jakarta Composite was up by 13.62 points or 0.21% to 6,401.94.

On the other hand, Shanghai Composite declined 2.17 points or 0.07% to 2,926.06 and Nikkei 225 was down by 3.85 points or 0.02% to 21,561.30.