Sluggish trend continues on Dalal Street

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in afternoon session after the US Federal Reserve highlighted the uncertainty surrounding economic recovery. US Federal Reserve hinted at the key policy interest rate staying close to zero at least through 2023 without unveiling any additional stimulus plans. Sentiments were also under pressure with private report stated that India’s GDP is likely to contract by 8.6 percent in FY21 as against its earlier prediction of 5.8 percent, citing factors including the modest government response to the crisis for its estimate. Weak broader indices along with heavy sell off at metal, realty and telecom counters, dragged the markets lower. Stocks from Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank counters were trading lower, while HCL Tech, Asian Paints and Infosys counters were supporting the markets.

On the global front; Asian markets were under pressure as the looming global economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemics, though the US Central Bank reiterated its dovish monetary policy stance to stem the weakened economy. Back on street; the market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2624 stocks traded, 1533 stocks declined, while 940 stocks advanced on the BSE, while 151 stocks remain unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39057.31, down by 245.54 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 38947.69 and 39234.81. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.32%, while Small cap index was down by 0.60%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.19% and Healthcare was up by 0.01%, while Metal down by 1.57%, Realty down by 1.38%, Telecom down by 1.28%, Power down by 1.05%, Auto was down by 1.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 1.75%, Asian Paints up by 0.79%, Infosys up by 0.65%, Titan Company up by 0.46% and ONGC was up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.39%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.85%, ICICI Bank down by 1.64%, Power Grid down by 1.48% and Bajaj Finance was down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile; Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government is in the process of bringing out a strategy paper on boosting industrial growth which will be a road map for all businesses in the country. He said the government is in the process of rationalising the existing central labour laws into four labour codes -- on wages; industrial relations; occupational safety, health and working conditions; and social security by simplifying, amalgamating and rationalising the relevant provisions of the existing central labour laws.

Goyal said the Code on Wages has been approved and notified. He also said an Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) note on startup India seed fund scheme, with a total proposed corpus of Rs 945 crore, has been formulated by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). He added that the EFC note was circulated for inter-ministerial consultations to the concerned departments/ ministries and the note has been finalised.

The minister further stated that since the roll out of Startup India initiative on January 16, 2016, a total of 36,106 startups have been recognised by DPIIT in 586 districts, as on September 6. He also noted that a total number of 4,22,986 employment has been reported by 34,267 DPIIT recognised startups as on September 6.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11525.15, down by 79.40 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 11505.75 and 11587.20. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddys Lab up by 2.96%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.97%, HCL Tech up by 1.69%, Asian Paints up by 0.89% and BPCL was up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.94%, Tata Motors down by 2.94%, Shree Cement down by 2.59%, Tata Steel down by 2.51% and Bajaj Finserv was down by 2.15% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Hang Seng decreased 430.69 points or 1.74% to 24,294.94, Shanghai Composite declined 6.79 points or 0.21% to 3,277.13, KOSPI fell 29.75 points or 1.22% to 2,406.17, Jakarta Composite lost 29.03 points or 0.57% to 5,029.45, Taiwan Weighted dropped 104.02 points or 0.8% to 12,872.74, Straits Times trembled 8.47 points or 0.34% to 2,496.68 and Nikkei 225 was down by 156.16 points or 0.67% to 23,319.37.