Indian bourses continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in morning session as selling momentum in the equities persisted. Trade sentiment remained cautious with private report stated that the public health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as the top threat for Indian corporates, while cyber attacks and data frauds loom equally large. Market participants also took a note of former Deputy Governor of RBI Viral Acharya’s statement that revising up inflation bands for the central bank will hurt the poor. He also said India has to devise ways of pushing up growth in a structural manner and not by ‘pump-priming’ measures like easy credit and easy liquidity. On the sectoral front, select power stocks were trading in green as Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer said their outlook for the A-Pac power sector is stable for 2021 as it has been since 2009. He said while the sector faced challenges this year as a result of the pandemic, they have been manageable overall and expects broadly supportive business conditions across the region as economies recover.

Asian markets were trading mixed, as investors remained cautious as they monitored the slowing progress of U.S. stimulus talks and a stalemate in Brexit negotiations. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to continue talks over the next few days. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were down 2.2 percent on year in November, in line with expectations following the 2.1 percent decline in October. Export prices were flat on month and down 2.1 percent on year in November, while import prices rose 0.5 percent on month and plummeted 10.6 percent on year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 45842.51, down by 260.99 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 45710.87 and 46001.97. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.19%, while Small cap index was down by 1.29%.

The top losing sectoral index on the BSE were Basic Materials down by 1.99%, PSU down by 1.58%, Oil & Gas down by 1.38%, Power down by 1.32% and Utilities down by 1.09%, while there were no gainers.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.62%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.15%, Titan Co up by 1.05%, HCL Technologies up by 0.67% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.08%, Tata Steel down by 1.81%, Indusind Bank down by 1.45%, NTPC down by 1.32% and Sun Pharma down by 1.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Moody's Vice President and Senior Credit Officer -- Boris Kan has said ‘our outlook for the A-Pac power sector is stable for 2021 as it has been since 2009. While the sector faced challenges this year as a result of the pandemic, they have been manageable overall and we expect broadly supportive business conditions across the region as economies recover’.

Further, Kan said ‘we do see some challenges in India's power sector and, to a lesser extent, unregulated utilities in Australia, China and Japan driven by evolving operating conditions. India is the only market with a negative power sector outlook because of weak power demand, additional payment delays by state-owned distribution companies and policy actions aimed at reducing stress for end-users.

In China, power demand recovery and falling interest rates will offset likely tariff declines as a result of increased market liberalisation but there will be delays in subsidy payments for renewable energy operators. Meanwhile, said Moody's, Australia's regulated utilities remain transparent and predictable but unregulated utilities will face ongoing challenges from policy uncertainty and price volatility.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 13436.25, down by 92.85 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 13399.30 and 13488.50. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.49%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.09%, Titan Co up by 0.82%, HCL Technologies up by 0.71% and Britannia Industries up by 0.49%. On the flip side, UPL down by 14.23%, Tata Motors down by 2.35%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.13%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.04% and Shree Cement down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite soared 39.19 points or 0.66% to 5,983.60, Nikkei 225 surged 17.09 points or 0.06% to 26,835.03, Shanghai Composite gained 8.14 points or 0.24% to 3,380.10 and KOSPI rose 6.96 points or 0.25% to 2,762.43. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 13.01 points or 0.46% to 2,830.06, Hang Seng decreased 126.87 points or 0.48% to 26,375.97 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 161.61 points or 1.12% to 14,228.53.