Bourses remain in green terrain; Sensex holds 0.51% gains

Indian equity bourses remained in green terrain in late afternoon session, tracking firm European markets. Investors were in optimistic mood, as the Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) Nitin Gadkari said that the Centre is formulating a scheme to encourage import substitute products in the manufacturing sector in order to save foreign exchange. However, gains remained capped, after the SBI research report stated that the economic slowdown has adversely impacted employment generation in the country as nearly 16 lakh fewer jobs are projected to be created in FY20 compared to 89.7 lakh fresh jobs in FY19.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as Ireland's construction sector expanded for the first time in four months in December. The data from the IHS Markit showed that the Ulster Bank construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.0 in December from 48.2 in November. Asian markets were also trading in green, after Malaysia's unemployment rate remained stable in November. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that the jobless rate was 3.2 percent in November, the same as seen in October. In the same period last year, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent.

Back home, mining and minerals sector stocks were in focus, as the Centre has decided to set up an 11-member panel including mines secretaries from various states, to examine issues pertaining to the revision of rates of royalty for minerals. The members of the panel includes mines secretaries from the states like Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41810.62, up by 210.90 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 41720.76 and 41899.63. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.83%, while Small cap index was up by 0.82%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.95%, IT up by 1.76%, TECK up by 1.69%, Telecom up by 1.46% and FMCG up by 1.20%, while Auto down by 0.12% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 4.76%, Indusind Bank up by 2.09%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.08%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.07% and Tata Steel up by 1.63%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.10%, Axis Bank down by 0.43%, SBI down by 0.41%, Reliance Industries down by 0.32% and Nestle down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid low consumer sentiments, weak rural demand and economic slowdown, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in its latest data report has said that the automobile industry recorded its worst-ever sales decline in two decades in 2019, with all vehicle segments reported de-growth last year.

As per the report, overall wholesale of vehicles during the year across categories, including passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, fell 13.77 per cent in 2019 at 2,30,73,438 units as against 2,67,58,787 units in 2018. The previous lowest was recorded in 2007 when overall sales had declined by 1.44 per cent.

Segment wise, total passenger vehicle sales during 2019 declined 12.75 per cent to 29,62,052 units as against with 33,94,790 units a year ago, while two-wheeler sales declined 14.19 per cent last year to 1,85,68,280 units as compared with 2,16,40,033 units in 2018. Likewise, total commercial vehicles fell 14.99 per cent to 8,54,759 units as against 10,05,502 units in 2018.

According to SIAM, domestic passenger vehicle sales declined 1.24 per cent to 2,35,786 units in the month of December as compared to 2,38,753 units in the year-ago period. Besides, domestic car sales were also down 8.4 per cent to 1,42,126 units during December 2019 as against 1,55,159 units in December 2018.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12317.75, up by 60.95 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 12285.80 and 12337.75. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 4.79%, Coal India up by 2.80%, Indusind Bank up by 2.26%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.22% and Hindustan Unilever up by 2.00%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 5.47%, Tata Motors down by 1.38%, Bharti Infratel down by 1.32%, Eicher Motors down by 1.16% and TCS down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 315.63 points or 1.1% to 28,953.83, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 88.77 points or 0.74% to 12,113.42, KOSPI rose 22.87 points or 1.04% to 2,229.26 and Shanghai Composite gained 12.07 points or 0.39% to 3,104.36. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 0.82 points or 0.01% to 6,274.12 and Straits Times was down by 4.71 points or 0.14% to 3,251.24.

All European markets were trading in green; UK’s FTSE 100 gained 33.86 points or 0.45% to 7,621.71, France’s CAC rose 16.58 points or 0.27% to 6,053.69 and Germany’s DAX was up by 11.14 points or 0.08% to 13,494.45.