Indian bourses off day’s low in afternoon session

Key Indian benchmarks pared most of their losses in afternoon session to come off their intraday low points, led by buying in Realty, Oil & Gas and Energy sector stocks. The losses on the bourses got trimmed, as traders found some solace with DPIIT Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra’s statement that with a strong policy driven government at the Centre, favourable conditions exist in India to achieve the target of $5 trillion economy by 2024. However, the indices stayed in red, as anxiety remained on the street with a report that GST collections in September 2019 declined by 2.67% from the year-ago month; there was only one precedent (of August 2018) earlier of the GST collections in any month being lower than in the year-ago month. On the sectoral front, select auto stocks were trading in red with report that low consumer sentiment continued to subdue sales performance of the Indian automobile sector in September, as major industry players reported a significant decline in their respective sales figures.

On the global front, Asian market were trading in red after the United States opened a new front in its trade dispute with Europe by imposing tariffs, adding to already-growing market fears about global growth. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 38254.96, down by 50.45 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 37957.56 and 38284.00. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.10%, while Small cap index was down by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.00%, Oil & Gas up by 2.06%, Energy up by 0.99%, PSU up by 0.98% and TECK was up by 0.81%, while Metal down by 1.75%, Basic Materials down by 0.87%, Capital Goods down by 0.42%, Healthcare down by 0.32% and Bankex was down by 0.12% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 25.16%, Tata Motors up by 6.03%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 6.01%, HCL Techologies up by 2.41% and ICICI Bank was up by 1.86%. On the flip side, Vedanta down by 3.10%, HDFC Bank down by 1.75%, Axis Bank down by 1.65%, Tata Steel down by 1.48% and Hindustan Unilever was down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, World Economic Forum (WEF) President Borge Brende has said that India is a young economy with lot of potential and has demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience amid an economic slowdown globally. Besides, he said the country can play a crucial role in the development of South Asia and sustainability of global economic growth. 

Borge Brende has stated that the rise of advanced technologies has the potential to create economic and social value and it can boost the country's goal of maintaining its growth momentum while attaining greater social inclusion and regional cooperation. He also said India is very advanced from many developed economies when it comes to information technology sector, but there is a lot of scope for development in terms of infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the WEF, an international organization headquartered in Geneva, is organizing its 33rd India Economic Summit in New Delhi on October 3-4 under the theme -- 'Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World'. Artificial intelligence and drones, start-up unicorns, infrastructure, environmental reforms, gender parity, education and South Asia's economic outlook will be on top of the agenda.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11344.85, down by 15.05 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 11257.35 and 11357.60. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 24.37%, Zee Entertainment up by 9.03%, Tata Motors up by 5.85%, BPCL up by 5.13% and Indian Oil Corporation was up by 3.37%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.43%, Vedanta down by 2.88%, Coal India down by 2.32%, HDFC Bank down by 1.94% and Tata Steel was down by 1.54% were the top losers.

All Asian market were trading in red; Taiwan Weighted dropped 71.97 points or 0.66% to 10,875.91, Hang Seng decreased 99.74 points or 0.38% to 25,942.95, Nikkei 225 slipped 436.87 points or 2.01% to 21,341.74, Straits Times trembled 28.33 points or 0.91% to 3,075.12 and Jakarta Composite was 20.47 points or 0.34% to 6,034.96.