Sensex, Nifty hold heads above water

Indian equity benchmarks were holding their heads above water in late afternoon session, despite weak cues from European markets. Domestic sentiments were upbeat, as Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian said that private investment is key to economic growth and the recent cut in corporate tax rate was done to boost investments. The street also took a note of the Reserve Bank of India’s data report stating that India Inc's foreign borrowings grew over two-fold to $3.41 billion in October over the corresponding month a year ago. Indian companies had raised $1.41 billion in borrowings from overseas markets in October 2018. Of the total money borrowed by the domestic companies, $2.87 billion was through the automatic route of external commercial borrowing (ECB), $538 million came in through the approval route of ECB.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as France's economic growth is expected to slow slightly in the fourth quarter. The Bank of France retained its GDP growth estimate for the final three months of 2019 at 0.2 percent, which is slower than the 0.3 percent expansion in the third quarter. However, Asian markets were trading in green, after Japan had a current account surplus of 1,816.8 billion yen in October, exceeding expectations for 1,806.8 billion yen and up from 1,612.9 billion in September. The trade balance reflected a surplus of 254.0 billion yen - also beating forecasts for 138.8 billion yen following the 1.1 billion yen surplus in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40506.27, up by 61.12 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 40336.56 and 40645.63. There were 18 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.16%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.99%, Metal up by 0.95%, Energy up by 0.94%, Auto up by 0.91% and Utilities up by 0.80%, while Realty down by 0.88%, IT down by 0.73%, FMCG down by 0.64%, TECK down by 0.59% and Capital Goods down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 1.86%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.56%, Axis Bank up by 1.55%, Power Grid up by 1.18% and Tata Steel up by 1.08%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.26%, HCL Tech. down by 1.36%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.18%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.01% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indian companies borrowed $3.41 billion from overseas markets in the month of October 2019 as against $1.41 billion raised in October 2018. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data report, out of the total borrowings, $2.87 billion was through the automatic route of external commercial borrowing (ECB), while $538 million came in through the approval route of ECB.

In the ECB category, the major borrowers tapping the automatic route included Muthoot Finance ($400 million), HPCL-Mittal Energy ($300 million), Wardha Solar (Maharashtra) ($251 million), Larsen and Toubro ($200 million), Deccan Fine Chemicals ($140 million) and Aditya Birla Finance ($75 million).

Further, the data report found that only two companies tapped the approval route in October 2019 i.e.  JSW Steel raised $400 million, while Shriram Transport Finance borrowed $138 million. No money was raised through the rupee-denominated bonds or the masala bonds during the month, nor in the year-ago period.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11936.50, up by 15.00 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 11888.05 and 11981.95. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.28%, HDFC up by 1.80%, Axis Bank up by 1.68%, BPCL up by 1.64% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.46%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.37%, Cipla down by 1.78%, SBI down by 1.34%, HCL Tech. down by 1.30% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 76.30 points or 0.33% to 23,430.70, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 51.13 points or 0.44% to 11,660.77, Hang Seng increased 18.77 points or 0.07% to 26,517.14, KOSPI rose 6.80 points or 0.33% to 2,088.65, Jakarta Composite soared 5.37 points or 0.09% to 6,192.24 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.80 points or 0.03% to 2,912.81. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 2.38 points or 0.07% to 3,192.33.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 12.65 points or 0.17% to 7,227.01, France’s CAC fell 15.06 points or 0.26% to 5,856.85 and Germany’s DAX was down by 11.95 points or 0.09% to 13,154.63.