Indian bourses continue to trade under pressure

Tracking regional indices, Indian bourses were trading under selling pressure in afternoon session, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants. Sentiments remained downbeat with CRISIL’s report that for states, balancing the fiscal math while continuing to spend on infrastructure capital expenditure (capex) will be challenging. Some caution also prevailed in the markets ahead of the release of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the September quarter slated for later in the day. Traders also took a note of Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement that if India’s concerns are addressed by the RCEP grouping, the government may take a call on what needs to done, otherwise the present stand will continue. On the sectoral front, shipping sector remained in focus with Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya stating that the government has prepared a roadmap to increase the country's port capacity to over 3,300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2025. The move is part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the Sagarmala Programme.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors turned cautious, fearing a new US law backing Hong Kong protesters could put hurdles in efforts to end the US-China trade conflict. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40741.95, down by 388.22 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 40664.18 and 41143.22. There were 3 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.76%, Power up by 1.11% and Utilities was up by 1.02%, while Metal down by 1.34%, Energy down by 1.29%, Auto down by 1.12%, FMCG down by 0.88% and Bankex was down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.89%, NTPC up by 1.43% and Indusind Bank was up by 0.21%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.06%, Asian Paints down by 1.99%, Tata Steel down by 1.74%, ONGC down by 1.73% and Reliance Industries was down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh has said that India has set up a total 31,696 Mega Watt (MW) of grid connected solar power generation capacity as on October 31, 2019. He noted that the country is on track to achieve 1,00,000 MW grid connected solar power capacity by December 2022.

Singh further said that solar projects worth 17,998 MW capacity are at various stages of installations and tenders for another 36,278 MW capacity projects have been issued and with new tenders of around 15,000 MW are planned in remaining period of 2019-20 and 2020-21, and the country is on course for achieving the target. 

The minister has stated that most of the solar power projects in the country have been/are being set up with private investment. He also said the government has been implementing National Solar Mission under which various Schemes have been launched for promoting the generation and use of solar power in the country. He noted that this makes publicity for effective implementation all schemes including Solar Schemes through print, social, electronic and other media. He added that the Ministry has also launched a Mobile App for solar rooftop systems.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12040.40, down by 110.75 points or 0.91% after trading in a range of 12017.40 and 12147.40. There were 7 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 5.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.90%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.77%, NTPC up by 1.43% and BPCL was up by 0.48%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.84%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.16%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 2.12%, Asian Paints down by 2.07% and Tata Steel was down by 1.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 526.67 points or 1.96% to 26,367.06, Taiwan Weighted dropped 127.51 points or 1.1% to 11,489.57, Nikkei 225 slipped 115.23 points or 0.49% to 23,293.91, KOSPI fell 30.64 points or 1.45% to 2,087.96, Shanghai Composite declined 19.57 points or 0.68% to 2,870.12 and Straits Times was down by 13.63 points or 0.43% to 3,186.98.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 42.84 points or 0.72% to 5,995.90.