Bourses add losses; Energy stocks lose shine

Indian equity markets added losses in late afternoon session, on account of weak opening in European markets. Traders remained pessimistic, with Assocham president Niranjan Hiranandani’s statement that the economy is facing a liquidity problem and demand recession, and it requires measures to lift consumption, including reduction in goods and services tax and personal income tax and improved credit flow, to revive. The street paid no heed towards reports that India's forex reserves continued on the northward trajectory, rising to a new record of $454.492 billion on the back of a $1.07 billion accretion for the week ended December 13.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red, as an indicator reflecting the current economic situation in the euro area remained broadly unchanged, continuing to signal moderate growth in the currency bloc. The Eurocoin indicator came in at 0.15 in December versus 0.16 in November. Asian markets were also trading in red, after Japan's all industry activity dropped for the first time in four months in October. The figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that the all industry activity index fell 4.3 percent month-on-month in October, after a 1.9 percent rise in September.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41510.49, down by 171.05 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 41474.61 and 41701.62. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.27%, while Small cap index was down by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.32%, Auto up by 0.31%, Consumer Disc up by 0.19% and IT up by 0.01%, while Energy down by 1.53%, Telecom down by 1.10%, Realty down by 1.00%, PSU down by 0.77% and FMCG down by 0.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.89%, Titan up by 0.64%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.49% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.84%, Nestle down by 1.62%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.32% and ICICI Bank down by 1.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways and MSMEs, Nitin Gadkari has expressed need that Indian industry should help India in cutting imports and becoming more export-oriented, by using the best technologies of the world. He also added that the industries are importing goods which can be produced in the country itself.

Underlining the facts of exports, the Minister said that Indian exports contribute only 2.6% to the global trade, as compared to China, which leads with a share of 17%. He said that the problems on the trade front that China is currently facing are a ‘blessing in disguise’ for India, which can increase the share of its exports in world trade to 8-10%. He added that this is important for the realization of the goal of a $5 trillion economy.

While talking about the Road Transport and Highways sector, Gadkari mentioned that his ministry has saved approximately Rs 16,000 crore in land acquisition cost by taking a different alignment by acquiring land in tribal and rural areas of Rajasthan, thus substantially decreasing the project cost at large. The alignment has also resulted in a reduction of 120 Km of the route, thereby reducing logistics cost on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12225.70, down by 46.10 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 12213.25 and 12287.15. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Zee Entertainment up by 3.75%, Vedanta up by 1.94%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.16%, BPCL up by 1.12% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.79%, Reliance Industries down by 2.01%, SBI down by 1.86%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.80% and Nestle down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite declined 35.57 points or 1.18% to 2,969.37, Hang Seng decreased 19.83 points or 0.07% to 27,851.52, Straits Times trembled 1.14 points or 0.04% to 3,211.25 and KOSPI was down by 0.47 points or 0.02% to 2,203.71. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 4.48 points or 0.02% to 23,821.11, Jakarta Composite soared 6.37 points or 0.1% to 6,290.74 and Taiwan Weighted was up by63.15 points or 0.53% to 12,022.23.

All European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 lost 17.19 points or 0.23% to 7,565.29, France’s CAC fell 6.10 points or 0.10% to 6,015.43 and Germany’s DAX was down by 0.19 points or 0.01% to 13,318.71.