Sensex, Nifty continue to trade in red

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading below their neutral lines. Negative cues from other Asian markets kept key indices lower in late morning session. Sentiments were negative, even after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that she was closely monitoring the progress of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), whom she called as the growth engine of the country. Addressing the Tech Sparks 2020, Sitharaman said, 'We have changed the definition of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) and expanded the scope of MSMEs. Because of this change, more MSMEs have come into the system, and they've benefited from the schemes given by the government.'

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Japan's central bank maintained its monetary policy easing as widely expected, and raised its growth projections. The Policy Board of the BoJ headed by Haruhiko Kuroda voted 8-1 to retain the interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. The bank will continue to purchase necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39740.21, down by 182.25 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 39524.25 and 39886.16. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.28%, while Small cap index was down by 0.61%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.13%, Power up by 0.06% and Basic Materials up by 0.01%, while Capital Goods down by 1.74%, Consumer Durables down by 1.63%, PSU down by 1.29%, Industrials down by 1.23% and Metal down by 1.10% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.84%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.73%, Reliance Industries up by 0.52% and Nestle up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 4.25%, ONGC down by 3.09%, Titan Company down by 2.71%, Indusind Bank down by 1.67% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, union minister Som Parkash has said the government is in the final stage of drafting the e-commerce policy and National Retail Trade policy. The Minister of State for Commerce and Industry said the government will extend all support to the e-commerce and retail industries through various policies. He said ‘We are in the final stage of drafting a National Logistics Policy, New Industrial Policy, e-commerce Policy and National Retail Trade policy’.

He highlighted ‘It (policies) is being formulated to support the development of the sector that will benefit 65 million small traders. These endeavours along with the support of the industry would help in contributing a significant chunk to India's GDP’. Trade, e-commerce and FMCG companies have a huge presence in India along with a large consumer base that provides numerous opportunities for every player in this sector.

Som Parkash said ‘the government has already launched a series of programmes to transform India into a global economic hub. The government works on the vision of minimum government and maximum governance’. In the last few years, the minister said there have been significant improvements in the ease of doing business ranking, which has been possible due to transformative measures taken by the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11671.05, down by 58.55 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 11609.20 and 11709.60. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 1.98%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.49%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 1.00%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.62% and Reliance Industries up by 0.54%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 4.10%, ONGC down by 3.17%, Tata Motors down by 3.00%, Titan Company down by 2.63% and Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 75.87 points or 0.32% to 23,342.64, Taiwan Weighted dropped 129.30 points or 1.01% to 12,664.45, Hang Seng decreased 229.96 points or 0.93% to 24,478.84, Straits Times trembled 19.97 points or 0.8% to 2,463.51 and KOSPI fell 29.77 points or 1.27% to 2,315.49. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 2.48 points or 0.08% to 3,271.72.