Bourses trade slightly lower in early noon session

Key Indian benchmarks were trading slightly lower in early noon session, tracking weak cues from other Asian markets. Selling in frontline blue chip stocks such as Tata Motors - DVR, Tata Motors, HDFC and Tech Mahindra restricted the markets to go up. Markets cooled off with a report that the government might be impelled to steeply cut its direct tax collection target, with growth in this regard slumping to 3.5% up to mid-October from the same period in the earlier financial year, as against the Budget target of 17.3%. Sentiments further weighed down as Fitch Ratings has slashed India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for the current financial year (FY20) to 5.5% as compared to 6.6% forecasted in June for FY20. However, upside remain limited with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that efforts will be made to further simplify Goods and Services Tax, and expressed hope that it will help in further improving India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the participants went wary after the release of downbeat US economic data amid uncertainty in Brexit and the US-China trade tensions. Back on home turf, in scrip specific developments, shares of Vodafone Idea slipped after Supreme Court rejected telecom companies’ appeal against the government’s definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). The apex court will later decide on the timeframe for the operators to pay. However, Shriram Transport Finance jumped on reporting 26% rise in Q2 net profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39005.22, down by 15.17 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 38950.11 and 39241.61. There were 15 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.24%, while Small cap index was down by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.15%, Oil & Gas up by 1.04%, IT up by 0.54%, Metal up by 0.37% and Consumer Durables up by 0.14%, while Telecom down by 3.09%, Realty down by 0.63%, Power down by 0.43%, Industrials down by 0.28% and Auto down was down by 0.25% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 2.84%, Tata Steel up by 1.81%, Infosys up by 1.42%, ICICI Bank up by 1.11% and ITC was up by 0.76%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.59%, Tata Motors down by 2.21%, HDFC down by 1.56%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.48% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 1.37% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Director of Development Economics at the World Bank, Simeon Djankov has said India needs a fresh set of bold reforms in the next three to four years if it wants to be among the top 50 countries with ease of doing business. His comments came as India has jumped 14 places to the 63rd position in the World Bank's (WB) ‘ease of doing business’ report.

Djankov has stated that India can get within the top 50, may be even in the 40 with the current reform agenda that the bank is watching such as Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, enforcing contracts, tax reforms being completed next year or the year after. He noted that India will face greater competition from other economies in Latin America and Europe to move up the ladder in the ease of doing business report.

The Director further said ‘India needs to ask, what it can do to from being in the top 50 to the top 25 economies and for that you need to recharge.’ He also said the upward movement in the ease of doing report is a result of the reforms undertaken by the Modi Government in its first term. He said 'It (top 25) is possible, but for a large democracy like India, it's extremely difficult.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11575.20, down by 7.40 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 11559.15 and 11646.90. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 3.75%, SBI up by 2.80%, Indian Oil Corp. up by 1.80%, Tata Steel up by 1.67% and Infosys up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 7.79%, Tata Motors down by 2.17%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.57%, Yes Bank down by 1.55% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 101.95 points or 0.38% to 26,696.00, Taiwan Weighted dropped 35.32 points or 0.31% to 11,284.82, KOSPI fell 1.20 points or 0.06% to 2,084.46, Jakarta Composite lost 36.17 points or 0.57% to 6,303.48 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.10 points or 0.11% to 2,937.82. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 13.76 points or 0.43% to 3,182.63 and Nikkei 225 was up by 24.81 points or 0.11% to 22,775.41.