Bourses turn negative

Erasing all of their gains, Indian equity bourses turned negative in late afternoon session, despite firm cues from European markets. Domestic sentiments got hit, after Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that it seems India's economic slowdown could continue for the next two to three years as the economy faces serious structural reform, which will hurt consumer demand and manufacturing. Some concerns also came with global rating agency Moody's statement that Indian non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) are pulling back on loan against property (LAP) lending to micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) because of the funding squeeze caused by the liquidity crisis in the country's financial sector.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, after Germany's inflation eased as estimated in August. The final data from Destatis showed that consumer prices climbed 1.4 percent year-on-year in August, slower than the 1.7 percent increase in July. Asian markets were trading mixed.

Back home, oil industry stocks were trading lower, despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in its latest monthly World Oil Demand report said that India's oil demand is expected to rise by the fastest pace globally this year and the next year, despite slower economic expansion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 37206.42, down by 64.40 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 37127.52 and 37435.15. There were 9 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.60%, Healthcare up by 0.52%, Capital Goods up by 0.33%, Basic Materials up by 0.32% and Industrials up by 0.13%, while Auto down by 1.75%, Telecom down by 1.49%, Utilities down by 1.03%, Energy down by 0.99% and Consumer Disc down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.51%, Sun Pharma up by 2.32%, Indusind Bank up by 1.38%, HDFC Bank up by 1.22% and HDFC up by 1.07%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.99%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 4.79%, Yes Bank down by 4.54%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.68% and Axis Bank down by 2.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its latest monthly World Oil Demand report has said that India's oil demand is expected to rise by the fastest pace globally this year and the next year, despite slower economic expansion. According to the report, India's oil demand is likely to rise by 3.21 per cent to 4.88 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2019 from 4.73 mb/d in the previous year. It will further rise by 3.36 per cent to 5.05 mb/d in 2020.

On the economic growth front, OPEC noted that India has experienced significantly lower-than-expected growth rates for first half of 2019 amid ongoing structural challenges. It further added that while some pick-up in 2H19 is expected, growth rates are forecast to be lower than in past years at 6.1 per cent for 2019 and 6.7 per cent for 2020.

Besides, the Organization said that fixing India's weak growth has become the highest priority while a benign inflation outlook has given the central bank room to cut rates. OPEC also underlined that it seems India's economic slowdown could continue for the next two to three years as the economy faces serious structural reform, which will hurt consumer demand and manufacturing.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11004.85, down by 30.85 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 10986.15 and 11081.75. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indiabulls Housing Finance up by 4.97%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.64%, ICICI Bank up by 2.39%, Sun Pharma up by 2.29% and Hindalco up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.25%, Yes Bank down by 4.47%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.80%, Axis Bank down by 2.44% and Zee Entertainment down by 2.14% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 161.85 points or 0.75% to 21,759.61, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 37.20 points or 0.34% to 10,827.55 and Shanghai Composite gained 20.35 points or 0.68% to 3,029.16. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 8.87 points or 0.28% to 3,195.65, Jakarta Composite lost 24.92 points or 0.39% to 6,357.03 and Hang Seng decreased 28.82 points or 0.11% to 27,130.24.

European markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE gained 3.21 points or 0.04% to 7,341.24 and DAX was up by 14.52 points or 0.12% to 12,373.59, while CAC was down by 3.11 points or 0.06% to 5,614.95.