Local bourses continue lackluster trade

Weakness persisted on Indian equity markets in late afternoon session, tracking lackluster European markets. Sentiments got hit with report that India's economic growth is expected to have declined below 5 percent in the second quarter of the financial year 2019-20 on the back of weak consumer demand, slowing factory activities and negative impacts of the prolonged monsoon. The markets were under pressure with selling in index heavyweights Tata Motors - DVR, Hindustan Unilever and SBI. Traders remained concerned with CRISIL’s report that for states, balancing the fiscal math while continuing to spend on infrastructure capital expenditure (capex) will be challenging. On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as investors feared a new US law backing protesters in Hong Kong would cloud the prospects of a preliminary Sino-US trade deal.

Back home, on the sectoral front, energy sector stocks were trading lower despite 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. Meanwhile, infrastructure stocks remained in focus with report that private investment to the tune of Rs 98,100 crore was roped in for construction of highways during the last five years.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40704.42, down by 425.75 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 40664.18 and 41143.22. There were 2 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.60%, Utilities up by 0.18%, Power up by 0.17% and Realty was up by 0.02%, while Metal down by 1.51%, Energy down by 1.46%, Auto down by 1.28%, Oil & Gas down by 1.21% and PSU was down by 1.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.45% and NTPC up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.52%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.29%, Sun Pharma Industries down by 2.08%, SBI down by 2.06% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, as a part of the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the Sagarmala Programme, the government has prepared a roadmap to increase India’s port capacity to over 3,300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2025. Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya has said that an analysis of nation-wide end-to-end logistics flows of all key commodities at ports was carried out based on which NPP for the Sagarmala Programme was prepared in April 2016.

The minister further said that master planning of 12 major ports has been carried out and 95 capacity expansion and port modernizations projects have been identified. Major ports capacity has been re-rated for global benchmarks as per berthing policy 2016 and effective capacity has increased by 293 MTPA after re-rating. Global benchmarks have been adopted to improve the efficiency and productivity for major ports and 116 initiatives have been identified to unlock 100 MTPA of capacity at major ports.

Mandaviya also said that an action plan for coastal shipping has also been prepared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in September 2019. He noted that the plan includes recommendations concerning infrastructure creation required to increase the use of coastal shipping in India.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12027.00, down by 124.15 points or 1.02% after trading in a range of 12017.40 and 12147.40. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Infratel up by 6.61%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47%, NTPC up by 0.39% and Coal India up by 0.32%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 2.64%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.52%, SBI down by 2.35%, Hindalco down by 2.23% and Tata Steel down by 1.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 547.24 points or 2.03% to 26,346.49, 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 17.71 points or 0.61% to 2,871.98 and Straits Times trembled 11.03 points or 0.34% to 3,189.58. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 58.20 points or 0.98% to 6,011.26.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.14 points or 0.24% to 7,398.29, France’s CAC fell 6.72 points or 0.11% to 5,906.00 and Germany’s DAX was down by 54.20 points or 0.41% to 13,191.38.