Sensex, Nifty remain in red terrain

Indian equity bourses remained in red terrain in late afternoon deals, despite firm cues from European markets. Anxiety spread among the traders, amid reports that the CBI is conducting searches in 169 locations across the country in connection with 35 bank fraud cases registered by the agency involving funds of over Rs 7,000 crore. The street paid no heed towards a private report stating that India is expected to see M&A deals of over $52 billion in 2019 as mergers and acquisitions in the country are expected to remain stable despite global headwinds.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, despite the latest survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that Switzerland's economic growth pace is set to slow sharply this year, but recover next year boosted by sporting events. The growth forecast for this year was cut to 0.8 percent from 1 percent seen in June. Asian markets were also trading in green.

Back home, NBFCs stocks were in watch, as Reserve Bank asked the already fund-starved NBFCs to adopt better risk monitoring tools that capture the strains early on and also to maintain a liquidity buffer as per the mandated liquidity coverage ratio.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40242.77, down by 59.19 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 40053.55 and 40466.55. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.96%, while Small cap index was down by 0.76%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.84% and FMCG up by 0.05%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.19%, Capital Goods down by 0.99%, Healthcare down by 0.95%, Oil & Gas down by 0.83% and Energy was down by 0.75% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.16%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.55%, SBI up by 1.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.95% and Bajaj Auto was up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.28%, Infosys down by 1.73%, Indusind Bank down by 1.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.03% and ONGC was down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s services sector activity contracted for second straight month in October, due to subdued demand conditions, competitive pressures and a fragile economic situation. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index stood at 49.2 in October from 48.7 in September. Further, the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services - fell to 49.6 in October, as against 49.8 in September.

The report also found that total sales were broadly unchanged in October, after contracting in September for the first time in over a year-and a-half. Besides, pending client payments caused a renewed increase in outstanding business held by service providers. The rise in backlogs was marginal, but contrasted with depletion in September. Service sector employment increased for the twenty-sixth month in a row, albeit at the joint-slowest pace over this period.

On the inflation front, input price inflation accelerated to a one-year high in October, on account of higher freight, fuel, material, vegetable and staff costs. The upturn was, however, weaker than seen on average over the series history. Further, some companies passed on rising costs to their clients, but a number of firms absorbed additional cost burdens. As a result, average prices charged for the provision of services increased only modestly.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11911.85, down by 29.45 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 11861.90 and 11978.95. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.31%, Bharti Infratel up by 2.49%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.41%, UPL up by 2.28% and Bajaj Finserv was up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 3.58%, Sun Pharma down by 2.44%, Grasim Industries down by 2.18%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.09% and Eicher Motors was down by 1.98% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Hang Seng increased 91.15 points or 0.33% to 27,638.45, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 87.18 points or 0.75% to 11,644.03, Shanghai Composite gained 14.91 points or 0.5% to 2,990.40, KOSPI rose 12.40 points or 0.58% to 2,142.64, Straits Times advanced 13.57 points or 0.42% to 3,249.97, Jakarta Composite soared 44.21 points or 0.72% to 6,224.55 and Nikkei 225 was up by 401.22 points or 1.76% to 23,251.99.

European markets were trading mostly in green; FTSE gained 24.51 points or 0.33% to 7,394.20 and DAX was up by 8.80 points or 0.07% to 13,145.08, while CAC was down by 0.25 points or 0.01% to 5,824.05.