Indian bourses continue to trade under pressure

Indian bourses continued to trade under pressure in afternoon session, in line with Asian peers, amid uncertainty over trade deal between the US and China. Trade sentiment remained cautious with report that the Central GST collection fell short of the budged estimate by nearly 40 per cent during the April-November period of 2019-20. Market participants overlooked Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian’s statement that the government has a well-thought-out agenda for reforms to beat current slowdown in the economy which is more cyclical than structural in nature. On the sectoral front, majority of auto stocks were trading lower, with data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showing that domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 0.84 percent to 2,63,773 units in November from 2,66,000 units in the year-ago period. Domestic car sales were down 10.83 per cent to 1,60,306 units as against 1,79,783 units in November 2018.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, tracking Wall Street declines as investors fretted over a December 15 deadline for the next round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports to take effect. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 40343.06, down by 144.37 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 40307.44 and 40588.81. There were 8 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.65%, while Small cap index was down by 0.40%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Consumer Durables up by 0.25%, while IT down by 1.14%, TECK down by 1.05%, Utilities down by 0.94%, Realty down by 0.92% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.77% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 0.90%, ONGC up by 0.75%, HDFC Bank up by 0.49%, SBI up by 0.49% and Sun Pharma was up by 0.44%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.30%, Tata Motors - DVR down by 1.80%, Yes Bank down by 1.78%, Axis Bank down by 1.63% and Indusind Bank was down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur has said that public sector banks (PSBs) returned to profitability by posting an aggregate profit of Rs 3,221 crore in the first half of the current fiscal (H1FY20). He noted that PSBs had posted huge losses in 2017-18 and 2018-19 financial years due to heavy provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) and other contingencies.

The minister has said that PSBs had posted aggregate operating profits during 2017-18 and 2018-19 of Rs 1,55,603 crore and Rs 1,53,871 crore respectively. However, he said they made aggregate provisions for NPAs and other contingencies of Rs 2,40,973 crore and Rs 2,35,623 crore in FY2018 and FY2019, respectively. He noted that this resulted in aggregate net losses of Rs 85,370 crore and Rs 81,752 crore in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. 

Citing data of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on global operations of PSBs, Thakur said their aggregate gross advances increased to Rs 68.76 lakh crore as on 31 March 2014 from Rs 25.03 lakh crore as on March end 2008. As per RBI inputs, the primary reasons for the spurt in stressed assets have been observed to be, aggressive lending practices, wilful default/loan frauds/corruption in some cases, and economic slowdown. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11891.70, down by 45.80 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 11882.95 and 11953.20. There were 17 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 1.70%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.95%, Cipla up by 0.93%, UPL up by 0.84% and Titan Company was up by 0.81%. On the flip side, Zee Entertainment down by 2.85%, GAIL India down by 2.84%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.25%, TCS down by 2.24% and Yes Bank was down by 2.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 41.39 points or 0.16% to 26,453.34, Taiwan Weighted dropped 32.93 points or 0.28% to 11,627.84, Nikkei 225 slipped 20.51 points or 0.09% to 23,410.19 and Jakarta Composite was down by 4.36 points or 0.07% to 6,189.43.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 0.40 points or 0.01% to 3,180.22, Shanghai Composite gained 1.10 points or 0.04% to 2,915.58 and KOSPI was up by 9.35 points or 0.45% to 2,098.00.