Key indices continue to trade lower in afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in afternoon session, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants amid weakness across Asian peers. The mood on the street remained cautious with report that the US and Indian trade negotiators ended talks on Friday without making major progress on a range of disputes over tariffs and other protectionist measures imposed by both sides that are straining bilateral ties. As per the report, Friday's talks were more about understanding each other's positions in various disputes. Depreciation in Indian rupee against the dollar too weighed down sentiments. However, losses remain capped as some support came with India Inc stating that Indian economy possesses strong fundamentals and will revive on account of various reform measures taken by the government. On the sectoral front, majority of auto stocks were trading lower, despite data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showing that domestic passenger vehicle sales witnessed a marginal increase of 0.28 percent to 2,85,027 units in October from 2,84,223 units in the year-ago period.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red following a fresh escalation of violence in Hong Kong while uncertainty still remained over whether the United States and China could end their damaging trade war. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40170.48, down by 153.13 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 40150.97 and 40385.61. There were 11 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.61%, Utilities up by 0.38%, Bankex up by 0.35%, Power up by 0.32% and Realty was up by 0.31%, while IT down by 0.94%, Energy down by 0.89%, Auto down by 0.80%, TECK down by 0.67% and Capital Goods was down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 2.39%, NTPC up by 1.96%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.93%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 0.77% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.81%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.62%, Vedanta down by 1.61%, TCS down by 1.51% and Reliance Industries was down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) has urged the Commerce Ministry to widen scope of Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) by including more services under it to promote the sector in overseas markets. The foreign trade policy provides tax incentives under SEIS to several services sector. SEPC Director-General Sangeeta Godbole said depending on the nature of services, the government gives duty credit scrips or certificates. She added that the scheme offers a reward at 5 percent or 7 percent of net foreign exchange earned and covers service providers located in India.

Godbole said the council together with the ministry is working on several steps to boost the exports. She also said that currently, nine broad categories of services are there in the list, including professional, communication, construction, educational, environmental, tourism and transport. She noted that incentives to services exporters under the scheme stood at Rs 4,262.8 crore during 2018-19 with a total of 6,376 number of SEIS scrips issued.

SEPC Director-General further stated that this incentive to exporters to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs involved to increase services export. She said scrips or certificates provided under the scheme can be used for payment of basic and additional customs duties on goods imported. She added that these are freely transferable and if an exporter is not in a position to use the scrip, they can sold in the open market.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11864.60, down by 43.55 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 11853.95 and 11920.30. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.60%, Yes Bank up by 2.47%, NTPC up by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.02% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.43%, Grasim Industries down by 1.89%, Vedanta down by 1.67%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.64% and UPL was down by 1.59% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 60.03 points or 0.26% to 23,331.84, Jakarta Composite lost 41.24 points or 0.67% to 6,136.75, KOSPI fell 13.14 points or 0.61% to 2,124.09, Shanghai Composite declined 50.52 points or 1.7% to 2,913.66, Straits Times trembled 31.64 points or 0.97% to 3,232.66, Taiwan Weighted dropped 152.26 points or 1.31% to 11,427.28 and Hang Seng was down by 754.46 points or 2.73% to 26,896.68.