Local equities trim initial gains; Nifty holds 12,050 mark

Local equity benchmarks have trimmed their early gains in morning session but managed to remain in green territory, with the Sensex and the Nifty holding around 50 and 15 points, respectively. The broader Nifty50 index was hovering around the 12,050 mark. Some cautiousness came with a report that Central GST collection so far this fiscal stood at Rs 3.26 lakh crore, which is around half the government’s target for 2019-20. The Budget Estimates for Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) for 2019-20 has been fixed at Rs 6,63,343 crore. Traders remain concerned with payroll data of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) which showed that around 12.23 lakh jobs were created in September as compared to 13.38 lakh in August 2019. Gross enrolments of new subscribers with the ESIC were 1.49 crore during the entire 2018-19 fiscal. However, some positivism also remain among the traders with a private report which stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is finally attempting to overhaul India’s most controversial labour laws to attract investment and make it easier to do business in a country where changing archaic rules is a challenge for any government. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 960.90 crore on November 26. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 213.66 crore.

On the global turf, Asian market were trading mixed, as investors tracked developments in the China-US trade talks, while Chinese online retail titan Alibaba surged almost eight per cent on its Hong Kong debut. Back home, a report stated that the government has collected Rs 4,972.738 crore in revenue from auctioned coal blocks since financial year 2014-15. Of the total revenue garnered till October 31, the maximum of Rs 1,280.58 crore was mopped up in 2018-19.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40949.02, up by 59.79 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 40945.77 and 41120.28. There were 17 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.62%, BANKEX up by 0.45%, Oil & Gas up by 0.43%, Healthcare up by 0.39% and Utilities was up by 0.29%, while Telecom down by 3.37%, Realty down by 0.74%, TECK down by 0.49%, Metal down by 0.45% and Capital Goods was down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 5.57%, ONGC up by 1.07%, ICICI Bank up by 1.04%, IndusInd Bank up by 0.84% and Infosys was up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.94%, Power Grid down by 1.38%, Tata Motors  DVR down by 1.05%, Vedanta down by 0.89% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur has said the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), which stood at Rs 10,36,187 crore on March 31, 2018, dropped by Rs 97, 996 crore to Rs 9,38,191 crore as on June 30, 2019. The gross NPAs stood at Rs 3,23,464 crore as on March 31, 2015 and increased to over Rs 10.36 lakh crore figure by the end of 2017-18 fiscal on March 31. The Minister further said aggregate gross advances of the SCBs in their global operations increased from Rs 25,03,431 crore as on March 31, 2008, to Rs 68,75,748 crore as on March 31, 2014.

As per the report regarding writing off bank NPAs, the State Bank of India wrote off Rs 56,481 crore in FY 2018-19. Other major banks which wrote off large amounts in FY2018-19 include IDBI Bank (Rs 14,166 crore), Canara Bank (Rs 13,849 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 11,725 crore), Central Bank of India (Rs 10,375 crore) and Punjab National Bank (Rs 11,238 crore).

The NPA write-offs of banks such as Axis Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India and United Bank of India ranged between Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore in FY 2018-19. The SCBs wrote off Rs 13,744 crore in FY 2018-19 under Agriculture and Allied Activities, while Rs 40,175 crore came under Services-Trade head.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12089.20, up by 15.45 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 12081.35 and 12132.45. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 5.57%, GAIL India up by 1.88%, ICICI Bank up by 1.19%, Titan Co up by 1.11% and ONGC was up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 6.25%, Bharti Infratel down by 5.52%, Bharti Airtel down by 3.08%, Grasim Industries down by 2.06% and JSW Steel was down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Asian market were trading mixed; Hang Seng decreased 15.71 points or 0.06% to 26,977.33, Straits Times trembled 11.56 points or 0.36% to 3,209.07, Jakarta Composite lost 4.40 points or 0.07% to 6,066.36 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.09 points to 2,906.08.

On the other side, KOSPI rose 13.45 points or 0.63% to 2,136.95, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 64.10 points or 0.55% to 11,625.68 and Nikkei 225 was up by 120.44 points or 0.52% to 23,413.25.