Sensex, Nifty trade marginally lower in early noon deals

Indian bourses continued their weak trade in early noon session with Sensex and Nifty trading down by 47 and 5 points respectively. Traders were seen in selling position for Energy, Telecom and Realty stocks, while buying was witnessed in Metal, Auto and Consumer Durables stocks. Investors’ sentiment remain dented with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath’s statement that while it was anticipated that India’s growth will slow down, the current numbers come as a shocker with a sharp decline in both investment and consumption. However, losses remain limited with a report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi exuded confidence that the economy has the resilience to bounce back swiftly from the current slowdown and called upon risk-averse companies to take bold investment decisions and help reverse faltering growth.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors refrained from big bets ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays amid still lingering doubts on US China trade pact. Back home, in scrip specific development, share of BASF India surged after its parent company BASF, Germany signed a Purchase Agreement with an Affiliate of Lone Star, a global private equity player, for acquisition of BASF's Construction Chemicals Business.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41633.55, down by 47.99 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 41525.85 and 41701.62. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks, while 1 stock remain unchanged declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.76%, Auto up by 0.54%, Consumer Durables up by 0.53%, Basic Materials up by 0.48%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.41%, while Energy down by 1.25%, Telecom down by 0.41%, Realty down by 0.27%, FMCG down by 0.15% and Utilities was down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.19%, Axis Bank up by 0.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.89%, Titan Company up by 0.88% and Bajaj Finance was up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.06%, Nestle down by 0.81%, SBI down by 0.44%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.42% and Tech Mahindra was down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that the government will infuse another Rs 15 lakh crore in highways sector alone in this five-year term to provide world-class roads including 22 green expressways. He said the government has spent Rs 17 lakh crore in the highways and shipping sectors combined in the last five years.

The minister said with e-tolling coming into force, the toll income alone will cross Rs 8,000 crore per annum as ever since the FASTag system has been made mandatory at national highways, toll income has seen a jump of Rs 25 crore per day. He noted that a total of 10 million FASTags have been issued till mid-December ever since the government made FASTags mandatory to facilitate digital payments to ensure hassle-free movement across 523 toll plazas. Some relaxation has been given on booths for the time being. He added that ever since the FASTag system has been introduced, it has resulted in an increase of Rs 25 crore in toll income per day, which is expected to go up.

Gadkari further said that roads and highways are the lifeline of the economy, connecting remote and far-flung areas and ensuring efficient transportation on regional as well as pan-India basis and added that development of national highways has a multiplier effect in terms of facilitating trade and enhancing the overall economic development of a region. On TOT (toll, operate, transfer), he said NHAI has identified more operational national highway stretches under nine more TOT bundles.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12266.15, down by 5.65 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 12229.30 and 12287.15. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.49%, UPL up by 2.14%, Vedanta up by 1.70%, BPCL up by 1.64% and Dr. Reddys Lab was up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.02%, Nestle down by 0.92%, Britannia Industries down by 0.90%, Grasim Industries down by 0.54% and Ultratech Cement was down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Shanghai Composite declined 21.87 points or 0.73% to 2,983.07, Straits Times trembled 3.99 points or 0.12% to 3,208.40, Hang Seng decreased 3.06 points or 0.01% to 27,868.29 and KOSPI was down by 2.62 points or 0.12% to 2,201.56.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 29.31 points or 0.25% to 11,988.39, Jakarta Composite soared 2.77 points or 0.04% to 6,287.14 and Nikkei 225 was up by 9.11 points or 0.04% to 23,825.74.