Bears tighten grip on Dalal Street

Bears have tighten their grip on Dalal Street in late afternoon session, amid weak cues from European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices were too lingering under pressure with the losses of 0.89% each. The street remained pessimistic, as Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its supplement to the Asian Development Outlook 2019 slashed India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 7 percent for the current fiscal (FY20), from 7.2 percent projected earlier, on the back of fiscal shortfall concerns. Adding more worries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has warned that the US-China trade war could cost the global economy about $455 billion next year, said recent trade policy actions were weighing on global trade flows, eroding confidence, and disrupting investment.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as Switzerland's exports decreased in June amid a faster growth in imports. The data from the Federal Customs Administration showed that exports dropped by real 0.1 percent on month in June, but slower than the 0.4 percent decrease logged in May. While, growth in imports improved to 1.4 percent from 0.8 percent in May. Asian markets were also trading in red.

Back home, auto stocks were in focus, after a private report indicated that electric vehicles could be a better alternative to fuel-based automobiles to mitigate air pollution, but the government's target to switch to e-vehicles in next 10 years is hard to achieve.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39090.79, down by 124.85 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 39022.71 and 39204.47. There were 6 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.89%, while Small cap index was down by 0.89%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 2.10%, Metal down by 1.93%, Consumer Durables down by 1.80%, PSU down by 1.66% and Realty down by 1.28%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 3.03%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.99%, HDFC Bank up by 0.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.32% and Infosys up by 0.24%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 11.68%, ONGC down by 3.80%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.61%, Tata Motors down by 3.34% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, pointing ‘lack of talent availability’ as one of the key challenges faced by organizations, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has said that the demand for digitally skilled workforce would rise at 35% Compounded Annual Growth Rate till 2023 of the current talent base of four million.

NASSCOM further said that reskilling talent base is its top priority and has taken a number of initiatives for it which includes proposed tie-ups with educational institutions. The first such tie-up is with Chennai based SRM University.

NASSCOM President Debjani Ghosh said that out of the four million jobs in industry, 60-65% of job profiles were expected to change in the next five years. By 2022, 54% of all employees will require significant reskilling and upskilling. She further noted that some technical skills required by companies include big data analytics, Artificial Intelligence while professional skills include problem-solving ability, storytelling, negotiation intelligence among others.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11647.45, down by 40.05 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 11625.10 and 11677.15. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 4.85%, HDFC up by 2.99%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.92%, Britannia up by 1.33% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 11.48%, ONGC down by 3.90%, Coal India down by 3.39%, Tata Motors down by 3.37% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 422.94 points or 1.97% to 21,046.24, Hang Seng decreased 191.49 points or 0.67% to 28,401.68, Taiwan Weighted dropped 29.20 points or 0.27% to 10,799.28, Shanghai Composite declined 24.41 points or 0.83% to 2,907.28, Straits Times trembled 11.85 points or 0.35% to 3,353.02 and KOSPI fell 6.37 points or 0.31% to 2,066.55. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 3.33 points or 0.05% to 6,397.94. 

All European markets were trading in red; FTSE lost 43.32 points or 0.57% to 7,492.14, CAC fell 33.23 points or 0.60% to 5,538.48 and DAX was down by 112.99 points or 0.92% to 12,228.04.