Local equities continue sluggish trade in morning session

Local equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of around quarter a percent, amid global market sell-offs as investors were concerned after the US decision to impose tariffs on Argentina and Brazil. Tata Steel emerged as the biggest loser with a slide over 3%, followed by Yes Bank, Tata Motors - DVR, and Vedanta. Investors remained jittery with a report that India’s economic growth is expected to remain subdued in near future as the slowdown has deepened and is likely to remain extended for a longer duration than previously anticipated. Some concerns also came with a report that loan growth has been slowing sharply and remains the biggest problem for Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rather than transmission. Between March end and November 8, loans to companies and individuals have increased by just 0.43% to Rs 97.67 lakh crore. However, losses remained capped with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the decision on the FY20 fiscal gap target will be taken at the revised estimate stage, adding the government has managed to keep fiscal discipline intact so far.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower, on renewed worries about global trade tensions after US President Donald Trump announced plans to reinstate tariffs on metal imports from Brazil and Argentina. Back home, a report stated that the government has allocated Rs 937 crore for exploration of mines that are not associated with Coal India, for the ongoing financial year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40716.67, down by 85.50 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 40687.58 and 40885.03. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.36%, while Small cap index was down by 0.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.75%, Realty up by 0.70%, Auto up by 0.46%, IT up by 0.35%, Consumer Discretionary was up by 0.34%, while Telecom down by 2.55%, Metal down by 2.15%, Basic Materials down by 1.24%, Industrials down by 0.60% and Power was down by 0.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 1.86%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.21%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.20%, TCS up by 0.94% and SBI was up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.34%, Yes Bank down by 2.58%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 2.15%, Vedanta down by 2.14% and Bharti Airtel was down by 1.21% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil, a global analytical company providing ratings, research, and risk and policy advisory services, has sharply cut India’s Gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 5.1% for the current financial year (FY20) from an earlier estimate of 6.3%. The move comes within days of the official data showing a further slip in the second quarter growth to 4.5%. This leaves the first half (April-September) growth at 4.75%, a multi-year low.

The agency mentioned that key short-term indicators like industrial production, merchandise exports, bank credit offtake, tax mop-ups, freight movement, and electricity production, all point to a weakening growth momentum.

However, the agency is expecting a mild pick-up in growth in the second half of current financial year. Growth in the second half of 2019-20 will go up to 5.5%, up from the 4.75% in the first half.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12014.35, down by 33.85 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 12007.30 and 12068.60. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.98%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.16%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.12%, Britannia up by 1.07% and Eicher Motors was up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Bharti Infratel down by 6.37%, Tata Steel down by 3.40%, Yes Bank down by 2.89%, JSW Steel down by 2.68% and Hindalco was down by 2.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower, Nikkei 225 slipped 169.77 points or 0.72% to 23,359.73, Hang Seng decreased 47.84 points or 0.18% to 26,396.88, Jakarta Composite lost 14.51 points or 0.24% to 6,115.55, KOSPI fell 7.84 points or 0.37% to 2,084.08, Straits Times trembled 6.23 points or 0.2% to 3,181.74 and Shanghai Composite declined 3.07 points or 0.11% to 2,872.74. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted was up by 5.87 points or 0.05% to 11,508.70.