Local equity continue sluggish trend; Sensex below 40,100 mark

Mirroring mixed global cues, local equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of over one third a percent. The frontline indices have drifted even below the psychological 40,100 (Sensex) and 11,900 (Nifty) levels. Some cautiousness came with a private report that the government may discontinue spending on 200-odd schemes in order to stick to its fiscal deficit target of 3.3%. Traders took note of commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that he indicated India may get back at the negotiating table only if its demands - including extra safeguard mechanism to curb irrational spike in imports and tougher rules on the origin of imported products and - were adequately addressed. However, losses further remained capped with a report that as the economy continues to falter, salaries in India are projected to rise 10% in 2020. While salary increases are stabilising around the 10 per cent mark, they remain the highest in the Asia Pacific region.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors were rattled by a possible snag in a US-Chinese trade truce following reports Beijing wants Washington to life punitive tariffs. Back on the domestic turf, reality industry stocks were trading higher on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement the next set of measures would be announced for the real estate sector and that the government was working with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help people affected in the sector.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40099.43, down by 148.80 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 40054.62 and 40311.85. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.07%, while Small cap index was down by 0.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.18%, Healthcare up by 0.43%, Metal up by 0.42%, Basic Materials up by 0.02% and Capital Goods was up by 0.01%, while Consumer Durables down by 4.02%, Telecom down by 1.90%, Energy down by 0.65%, PSU down by 0.48%, Oil & Gas was down by 0.37% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.02%, Yes Bank up by 1.32%, Vedanta up by 0.76%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.73% and Asian Paints was up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.35%, HCL Tech down by 1.14%, Reliance Industries down by 1.06% and Tata Steel was down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to help people who are affected in the realty sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are working to resolve the issues being faced by sector. She admitted that the realty sector has been left out of the booster measures announced earlier

Admitting that the so far announced measures have not helped revive the sentiment in the real estate, she said since August the government has been making various interventions to revive the market and consumption demand. Still there is a lot of work to be done and ‘one particular sector which I have not touched, but which has a lot of positive impact and also can effect an impact for the stock market, is the real estate sector.’

She said many funds are ready to invest but want more policy support. She added ‘there are many alternative funds which are now approaching us saying we would like to do something with you all so long as there is some supporting mechanism available for reviving the realty sector.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11866.15, down by 51.05 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 11854.95 and 11912.20. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 4.25%, Sun Pharma up by 1.86%, Cipla up by 1.74%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.34% and Yes Bank was up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 8.09%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.97%, SBI down by 1.41%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.26% and HCL Tech was down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 34.24 points or 0.15% to 23,286.23, Straits Times advanced 11.45 points or 0.35% to 3,260.08, KOSPI rose 4.00 points or 0.19% to 2,146.64 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 2.09 points or 0.02% to 11,646.12.

On the other hand, Hang Seng decreased 3.40 points or 0.01% to 27,680.00, Shanghai Composite declined 5.65 points or 0.19% to 2,985.91 and Jakarta Composite was down by 28.71 points or 0.46% to 6,235.44.