Indian bourses continue to trade under pressure

Indian bourses continued to trade under pressure in afternoon session, tracking weakness in index-heavyweight IT stocks. Sentiments remained downbeat with as ICRA expects further deterioration in India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate in Q2 due to subdued domestic demand and weak investment activity. It forecasted the country’s GDP growth at 4.7% in second quarter of current fiscal year (Q2FY20) from 5.0% in Q1FY20. Traders also took a note of report that Merger and Acquisition (M&A) deals in the month of October dropped by 45 percent in value terms and 40 percent in volume terms compared to the corresponding period last year. Moreover, the rupee depreciating by 10 paise to 71.86 against the dollar in early trade, too weighed on the sentiments. On the sectoral front, select Telecom stocks were trading higher after India Inc stating that the government's decision to defer receipt of spectrum auction installments due from telecom service providers for years 2020-2021 & 2021-2022 will provide headroom to the debt-laden telecom sector, generate employment opportunities for the potential workforce, drive consumer demand sentiments in the economy, provide further impetus and pave way to achieve $5 trillion economy going forward. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, on reports that China has offered to host a meeting to help push through the crucial mini pact with US. However, investors still remained cautious that the deal could collapse at any minute after US lawmakers passed a bill supporting Hong Kong rights, causing anger in Beijing. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40353.08, down by 222.09 points or 0.55% after trading in a range of 40295.83 and 40653.17. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.60%, while Small cap index was down by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.63%, Utilities up by 0.50%, Metal up by 0.32%, Energy up by 0.25% and PSU was up by 0.24%, while IT down by 2.23%, TECK down by 1.97%, Capital Goods down by 1.38%, Consumer Durables down by 1.17% and Industrials was down by 1.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.13%, Power Grid up by 1.66%, Yes Bank up by 1.56%, ITC up by 1.38% and ONGC was up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.04%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.39%, HCL Technologies down by 2.03%, Tata Motors down by 1.98% and Tata Motors - DVR was down by 1.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Public sector banks (PSBs) have disbursed loans worth Rs 2.53 lakh crore during the festive month of October, as part of a government-mandated outreach programme.  In order to boost credit availability in the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in September asked banks to reach out to customers and signal their willingness to lend following all prudential norms.

Under Finance Minister’s direction, outreach camps or loan melas were conducted across 374 districts across the country during October 2019. An amount of Rs 1,05,599 crore was disbursed towards new term loan, while Rs 46,800 crore was given as working capital loan. So fresh lending, including new term loans, was 60 percent of the total disbursement. The banks credited Rs 19,627.26 crore to the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) during the month of October, which remained under stress due to liquidity crunch following IL&FS criris.

As per the data, corporates availed maximum of Rs 1.22 lakh crore during the month of October, followed by agri loans (Rs 40,504 crore) and MSMEs (Rs 37,210 crore). Home loans to the tune of Rs 12,166 crore were given by banks while vehicle loans stood at Rs 7,058 crore. Out of total credit, Rs 19,627.26 crore was given to NBFCs, the co-origination alone was to the tune of Rs 15,297.18 crore and pool buyout was Rs 1,453.13 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11901.70, down by 66.70 points or 0.56% after trading in a range of 11884.45 and 11968.10. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 2.91%, NTPC up by 2.08%, Yes Bank up by 1.56%, ITC up by 1.38% and Power Grid was up by 1.25%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 4.73%, Infosys down by 2.98%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.48%, HCL Tech. down by 2.07% and Tata Motors was down by 1.86% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 74.30 points or 0.32% to 23,112.88, Hang Seng increased 61.06 points or 0.23% to 26,527.94, Straits Times advanced 20.71 points or 0.65% to 3,212.92, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 8.53 points or 0.07% to 11,566.80 and KOSPI was up by 5.36 points or 0.26% to 2,101.96.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 20.64 points or 0.34% to 6,096.72 and Shanghai Composite was down by 22.02 points or 0.76% to 2,881.62.