Indian equity benchmarks continued weak trade in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in early noon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below at 40,150 and 11,900 levels, respectively. Weak broader indices along with sell off at Consumer Durables, Telecom and Energy counters dragged the markets lower, amid mixed Asian markets. Sentiments got undermined with private report that the government may discontinue spending on 200-odd schemes in order to stick to its fiscal deficit target of 3.3%. However, losses remain limited as India gained about $755 million in additional exports, mainly of chemicals, metals and ore, to the US in the first half of 2019 due to the trade diversion effects of Washington's tariff war with China. Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued consolidated operational guidelines for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and designated depository participants to facilitate implementation of the new FPI regulations.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as the market participants sidelined as they awaited for more cues on the US-China trade negotiations and on fears about the outlook for interest rates. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Sun Pharma surged as company has entered into a licensing agreement with AstraZeneca UK (AstraZeneca) to introduce certain novel ready-to-use (RTU) infusion oncology products in China. The agreement will help to bring cost-effective and quality drugs to patients in China.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40118.92, down by 129.31 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 40037.53 and 40311.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.20%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.35%, Metal up by 0.62%, IT up by 0.49%, Healthcare up by 0.35% and TECK was up by 0.26%, while Consumer Durables down by 4.18%, Telecom down by 2.00%, Energy down by 0.80%, Oil & Gas down by 0.58% and PSU was down by 0.55% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.03%, Sun Pharm up by 1.51%, Asian Paints up by 0.81%, Yes Bank up by 0.73% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.67%, SBI down by 1.35%, Reliance Industries down by 1.15%, HCL Technologies down by 1.14% and ITC was down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said India’s services sector has huge potential to generate job opportunities and push country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. He suggested that the ministry, state and industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) can work on some kind of policies and enablers to push the growth of 12 champion sectors being identified by the government. He added that these sectors include accounting, finance, media, entertainment, information technology, health, legal, transport, and logistics.

Goyal said 'i have made a suggestion that in the next 15-20 days if we can work out along with the states, some kind of policy or some kind of enablers which can help these various champion sectors grow and expand much faster and contribute in a much larger way.’ But, he said 'I do not think we have even reached the tip of the iceberg when it comes to getting the true benefits of this sector.'

Talking about the Statue of Unity in Gujarat, the minister said that although some people criticized the government on this project, it has huge potential to generate economic activities around that region. He said ‘my prediction is that Statue of Unity alone will create an ecosystem that can generate Rs 1 lakh crore ($15 billion) annually in and around that statue over the next 4-5 years.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11869.55, down by 47.65 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 11850.25 and 11912.20. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.34%, Cipla up by 2.60%, Infosys up by 1.98%, Sun Pharma up by 1.55% and Dr. Reddys Lab was up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 8.55%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.57%, SBI down by 1.36%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.20% and HCL Technologies was down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 33.02 points or 0.12% to 27,716.42, KOSPI rose 5.73 points or 0.27% to 2,148.37, Straits Times advanced 10.59 points or 0.33% to 3,259.22 and Nikkei 225 was down by 49.29 points or 0.21% to 23,301.28. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.53 points or 0% to 11,643.50, Shanghai Composite declined 9.33 points or 0.31% to 2,982.23 and Jakarta Composite was down by 28.71 points or 0.46% to 6,235.44.