Local bourses continue sluggish trade

Mirroring weak global cues, Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, both Sensex and Nifty were trading below their crucial 41300 and 12150 marks, respectively. After a negative opening, markets continued their southward journey. Though, broader indices, BSE Mid cap and Small cap were trading in green. Sentiments remained lackluster with report that the RBI projected the economy to expand by 6% during the next financial year, pegging it at the lower end of the GDP growth estimate of the Economic Survey. Adding some pessimism among market participants, ICRA’s report stated that weak consumer sentiment, the slowdown in the infrastructure sector, and benign commodity prices have negatively impacted the performance of companies in Q3FY20. Traders paid no heed towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong and had inherent capability for higher growth rates. Meanwhile, India Inc welcomed the measures announced by the RBI to boost growth and improve liquidity, but called for slashing the policy rate, which was kept unchanged for the second time in a row.

Global cues remained lackluster with most of Asian markets were trading lower as investors take profits and assess developments in China’s deadly coronavirus crisis. Back home, real estate sector remained in focus with granting relief to lenders and real estate developers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed a one-year extension of the date of commencement of commercial operations (DCCO) for project loans, which are delayed for reasons beyond the promoters’ control.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 41203.21, down by 102.82 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 41190.60 and 41394.41. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.88%, Basic Materials up by 0.58%, Consumer Durables up by 0.47%, IT up by 0.37% and Power was up by 0.33%, while Realty down by 0.96%, Energy down by 0.90%, Telecom down by 0.77%, Capital Goods down by 0.74% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.72% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.50%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.58%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.48%, Titan Company up by 1.14% and HCL Tech up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.53%, Indusind Bank down by 1.39%, Reliance Industries down by 1.07%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.94% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that the Indian domestic passenger traffic rose by just 5.1 per cent in 2019, down from 18.9 per cent in 2018. It stated that 2019 was challenging for air travel in the domestic India market after four years of double-digit growth.

It mentioned that the market's revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) growth slowed sharply (5.1 per cent in 2019 vs 18.9 per cent in 2018) amidst the Jet Airways bankruptcy and weakening economic activity. It noted Passenger volumes ended the year on a soft note (up 1.7 per cent year-on-year in December), which highlights the challenges for the market in the period ahead.

IATA, which represents around 290 airlines comprising 82 per cent of global air traffic, measures passenger growth in RPKs, which is calculated by multiplying the number of passengers to the distance travelled by them.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 12110.05, down by 27.90 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 12095.95 and 12154.70. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.30%, Zee Entertainment up by 2.67%, NTPC up by 2.46%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.82% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.61%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.71%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.63%, Tata Motors down by 1.45% and BPCL down by 1.26% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 221.70 points or 0.81% to 27,272.00, Taiwan Weighted dropped 133.47 points or 1.14% to 11,616.21, Nikkei 225 slipped 47.82 points or 0.2% to 23,825.77, Straits Times trembled 23.00 points or 0.71% to 3,208.55, KOSPI fell 26.32 points or 1.18% to 2,201.62, Shanghai Composite declined 17.00 points or 0.59% to 2,849.51. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 9.14 points or 0.15% to 5,996.29.