Local bourses add some losses in afternoon deals

Adding some losses, Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in red in afternoon session, as selling momentum in the equities persisted. Sentiment on the street weakened further with the report that the Budget proposal to impose a higher tax surcharge - from 15% to 25% for incomes between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore and from 15% to 37% for higher incomes - on non-corporate FPIs had rattled the market. Investors also awaited the release of minutes of the last bi-monthly meeting of the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee. Traders overlooked the Retirement fund body, Employment Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional Estimate of Net Payroll’ data report showed that India created 12,23,675 new jobs in the month of June 2019 as against 8,56,870 in May 2019. On the sectoral front, stocks related to Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry remained in focus with private report stating that the media and entertainment industry in India has reached a size of Rs 1,63,100 crore in FY19, posting a growth of 13 percent, as well as clocking a CAGR of 11.5 percent over the period FY15-FY19. It also said the M&E industry grew 13 percent in FY19 on the back of rapid growth in digital user base and consumption, coupled with growing regional demand and monetization. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors looked ahead to a speech by the Federal Reserve chairman for signs of possible plans for more U.S. interest rate cuts. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37184.48, down by 143.53 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 37125.04 and 37406.55. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.80%, while Small cap index was down by 0.80%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.36% and TECK was up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 2.28%, Realty down by 1.80%, Basic Materials down by 1.66%, Capital Goods down by 1.58% and Industrials was down by 1.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 0.90%, Infosys up by 0.83%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.57%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.56% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 5.92%, Tata Motors down by 5.82%, Yes Bank down by 5.05%, Tata Steel down by 3.28% and Vedanta was down by 2.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) deputy governor NS Vishwanathan has urged bankers to ensure timely resolution of stressed assets under the RBI's new NPA recognition and resolution guidelines to extract the best value. He underlined the need for dealing only in genuine cases. He added that the central bank will soon be releasing final guidelines for private and foreign bankers' compensation.

Vishwanathan said the RBI's revised framework for resolution of bad assets is less intrusive as it gives banks the leeway to draft their own resolution plans for a particular case. He also said “timely resolution is very important. I'd request you to ensure that the resolutions are done in time, not just for the regulatory requirement but also because it will result in better valuation going forward.'

RBI deputy governor further said that the central bank has given a lot of freedom to banks to determine the contours. He said “we are making less intrusive regulations and hope that banks will use this to deal with genuine stress in their balance sheets to address the problem.'  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10963.95, down by 53.05 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 10947.15 and 11034.20. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 0.94%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.90%, Infosys up by 0.78%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.55% and Tech Mahindra was up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.97%, Yes Bank down by 5.06%, Tata Steel down by 3.34%, Vedanta down by 2.77% and Indiabulls Housing Finance was down by 2.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 58.65 points or 0.28% to 20,618.57, Jakarta Composite lost 39.16 points or 0.62% to 6,256.58, Straits Times trembled 9.33 points or 0.3% to 3,126.62 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.45 points or 0.05% to 2,878.55.

On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 1.60 points or 0.01% to 26,233.14, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 3.30 points or 0.03% to 10,525.80 and KOSPI was up by 4.40 points or 0.22% to 1,964.65.