Sensex, Nifty remain under pressure

Key Indian equity indices remained under pressure in late afternoon session, on account of mixed cues from European markets. Traders were cautious, as the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur said there is no official estimation of black money in the country, however, it has taken several concrete steps to crack down on illicit funds. The street also remained pessimistic, after International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India’s FY20 growth forecast by 30 bps to 7%, owing to weaker-than-expected outlook for domestic demand. Similarly, the FY21 forecast has been slashed by 30 bps to 7.2%.

On the global front, European markets were trading mixed, as Germany's private sector grew at the slowest pace in four months in July as the downturn in manufacturing continued. The flash data from IHS Markit showed that the flash composite purchasing managers' index, or PMI fell to 51.4 in July from 52.6 in June.  Asian markets were also trading mixed.

Back home, stocks related to IT sector remained in watch, after Indian envoy Harsh Vardhan Shringla said that the Indian IT industry is an important stakeholder in promoting business relations between India and the US as it contributes to the competitiveness of global operations of American companies and creates thousands of jobs in the US.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37813.14, down by 169.60 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 37708.41 and 38102.84. There were 7 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.63%, while Small cap index was down by 1.11%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.83%, Basic Materials down by 1.93%, Auto down by 1.81%, Capital Goods down by 1.68% and Industrials down by 1.66%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.98%, HDFC up by 2.20%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.61%, HDFC Bank up by 0.91% and HCL Tech. up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 3.98%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 3.93%, Indusind Bank down by 3.59%, Tata Steel down by 3.35% and Tata Motors down by 3.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting the country’s improvement in indicators like ease of doing business, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Ramesh Abhishek has said that India is hopeful of further improving its ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2019.

Ramesh Abhishek also underlined several mechanisms taken by the government to improve accessibility to affordable medicines such as National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, National List of Essential Medicines, and Jan Aushadhi centres.

He said Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), an agreement under the World Trade Organization, provides sufficient flexibilities to take steps whenever a specific issue emerges regarding high prices of patented medicines.

DPIIT Secretary further noted that although India's position is improving, there is need to do lot more. He added that the department is working on strengthening the intellectual property rights regime.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11262.75, down by 68.30 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 11229.80 and 11359.75. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 5.92%, Asian Paints up by 3.92%, HDFC up by 2.16%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.28% and HDFC Bank up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.80%, Eicher Motors down by 4.20%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.84%, Indusind Bank down by 3.63% and Hindalco down by 3.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 88.69 points or 0.41% to 21,709.57, Hang Seng increased 155.46 points or 0.55% to 28,621.94, Shanghai Composite gained 18.89 points or 0.65% to 2,918.83 and Straits Times was up by 2.22 points or 0.07% to 3,375.35. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 19.15 points or 0.91% to 2,082.30, Taiwan Weighted dropped 11.50 points or 0.11% to 10,935.76 and Jakarta Composite was down by 13.72 points or 0.21% to 6,390.09.

European markets were trading mixed; FTSE lost 71.75 points or 0.95% to 7,485.11 and CAC fell 26.89 points or 0.48% to 5,591.27, while DAX was up by 10.59 points or 0.08% to 12,501.33.