Bourses trim losses in late afternoon session

Key benchmark indices trimmed most of their losses in late afternoon session, but continued to trade below the neutral lines. Huge buying in metal stocks helped the markets to cut some losses. Losses got restricted after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the trust-based taxation system introduced by the government has resulted in improved collections and increase in the number of return filings. The finance minister complimented the department for achieving the highest-ever revenue collection of over Rs 14 lakh crore in the last fiscal and expressed hope that the momentum would continue in the current fiscal too. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as weak business activity data from Europe and the United States coupled with anxiety about China's property market added to worries about a recession. European markets were trading lower as investors weigh a clouded outlook for the economy and brace for a busy earnings week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55855.29, down by 216.94 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 55537.08 and 56018.09. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.05%, while Small cap index was down by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.41%, Utilities up by 0.53%, Capital Goods up by 0.53%, Basic Materials up by 0.47% and Power was up by 0.40%, while Auto down by 1.73%, Energy down by 1.26%, Oil & Gas down by 0.86%, Realty down by 0.64% and Consumer Discretionary was down by 0.57% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.80%, Indusind Bank up by 1.78%, Asian Paints up by 1.34%, HCL Tech up by 1.08% and ITC up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.44%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.21%, Reliance Industries down by 2.95%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.61% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, terming the performance linked incentive (PLI) in White Goods as a win-win for India, Industry and the people, Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has said that the PLI scheme is being used to only encourage the industry to take the first few steps to compete in the global market and give it the initial push to bring scale to business.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry expressed happiness with demand from Air-conditioning (AC) and LED sector to open them for Free Trade Agreements and said that the industry should now aim at becoming global champions. Goyal further noted that the PLI initiative was part of Prime Minister’s vision of converting crisis into an opportunity.

Besides, the minister said that the White Goods Sector with focus on AC and LEDs was one of the first sectors which was identified as the low-hanging fruit for encouraging the domestic manufacturing. Goyal also said that during the next 25 years of Amritkaal, India would be a prosperous nation, driving the world growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16653.90, down by 65.55 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 16564.25 and 16706.05. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 2.72%, Indusind Bank up by 1.70%, Hindalco up by 1.53%, Asian Paints up by 1.52% and Coal India up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.62%, Maruti Suzuki down by 3.19%, Reliance Industries down by 3.00%, ONGC down by 2.49% and Eicher Motors down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 215.41 points or 0.77% to 27,699.25, Hang Seng decreased 46.20 points or 0.22% to 20,562.94, Jakarta Composite lost 28.55 points or 0.41% to 6,858.41, Shanghai Composite declined 19.58 points or 0.6% to 3,250.39, Taiwan Weighted dropped 13.03 points or 0.09% to 14,936.33 and Straits Times was down by 0.25 points or 0.01% to 3,181.09. On the flip side, KOSPI was up by 10.55 points or 0.44% to 2,403.69.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 5.99 points or 0.08% to 7,270.38, France’s CAC decreased 3.86 points or 0.06% to 6,212.96 and Germany’s DAX was down by 38.77 points or 0.29% to 13,214.91.