Markets trade near neutral lines in early noon session

Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their neutral lines with positive bias in the early noon session amid selective buying across some blue chip counters. Division of investors was still opting to book some profits after previous week’s sharp gains. Meanwhile, the rupee surged to Rs 71.71 per dollar in early trades on steady selling of the American currency by exporters. On the BSE sectoral front, telecom stocks were showing major support along with energy stocks, while realty and IT stocks were pushing the market down. On the global front, Asian markets were trading in green as the better than expected Chinese Factory data helped to offset worries that tensions between the US and China over Hong Kong could impact the ongoing trade talks. Back home, the market breadth was favoring the negative trend.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40832.69, up by 38.88 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 40744.13 and 41093.99. There were 12 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.78%, while Small cap index was down by 0.31%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 6.66%, Energy up by 1.46%, Basic Materials up by 0.35%, TECK up by 0.28% and Utilities was up by 0.12%, while Realty down by 1.02%, IT down by 0.83%, PSU down by 0.80%, Healthcare down by 0.78% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 7.40%, Reliance Industries up by 2.47%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.33%, HDFC up by 0.52% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.15%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.61%, Sun Pharma down by 2.19%, ONGC down by 2.05% and Yes Bank was down by 1.83% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the growth of eight core infrastructure industries contracted massively by 5.8% in October 2019, as compared to same period of last year, indicating the severity of economic slowdown. According to data released by the ministry of Commerce and Industry, the combined Index of eight core industries stood at 127.0 in October, 2019, which was 5.8% lower compared to the index of October, 2018. Its cumulative growth during April to October, 2019-20 was 0.2%. The Eight Core Industries - coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity - comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). 

Among eight core sectors, Coal production having 10.33% weight declined by 17.6% in October, 2019 over October, 2018, and its cumulative index decreased by 5.8% during April to October, 2019-20 over corresponding period of the previous year. Petroleum Refinery production having 28.04% weight increased 0.4% in October, 2019 over October, 2018, while its cumulative index dropped by 1.7% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The Natural Gas production having 6.88% weight declined by 5.7 percent in October, 2019 over October, 2018, and its cumulative index was down by 2.6% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Steel production having 17.92% weight decreased by 1.6% in October, 2019 over October, 2018 while its cumulative index surged by 6.7% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Electricity generation having 19.85% weight fell 12.4% in October, 2019 over October, 2018 while its cumulative index increased by 1.5% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

Cement production having 5.37% weight declined by 7.7% in October, 2019 over October, 2018 and its cumulative index fell by 0.6% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Crude Oil production having 8.98% weight declined by 5.1% in October, 2019 over October, 2018 and its cumulative index fell by 5.8% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year. Fertilizer production having 2.63% weight surged by 11.8% in October, 2019 over October, 2018, and, its cumulative index increased by 2.6% during April to October, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12062.80, up by 6.75 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 12031.45 and 12137.15. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 7.40%, Grasim Industries up by 3.14%, Reliance Industries up by 2.56%, Bharti Infratel up by 1.77% and JSW Steel was up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.20%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.63%, Eicher Motors down by 2.58%, Sun Pharma down by 2.25% and ONGC was down by 1.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 237.96 points or 1.02% to 23,531.87, KOSPI rose 1.65 points or 0.08% to 2,089.61, Shanghai Composite gained 1.22 points or 0.04% to 2,873.20, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 13.26 points or 0.12% to 11,502.83, Hang Seng increased 95.63 points or 0.36% to 26,442.12 and Jakarta Composite was up by 71.16 points or 1.18% to 6,082.99. On the other hand, Straits Times was down by 5.75 points or 0.18% to 3,188.17.