Indian bourses snap all gains to trade lower

Indian bourses snapped their all gains of morning session to trade lower in late afternoon trade amid mixed global cues. The uncertainty surrounding U.S tariffs and their potential impact on global economy continues to haunt the market participants. The fears of escalating global trade war overshadowed the positive cues like declining dollar index, weakening crude oil prices, rising expectations over China’s stimulus, further weighing down investor sentiments. The broader markets were trading in negative terrain, with Midcaps and Smallcaps facing selling pressure due to valuation concerns. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets are trading in red amidst signs of deepening deflationary pressures in China. The European equity markets are also trading lower. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74118.59, down by 213.99 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 74092.92 and 74741.25. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index down by 1.46%, while Small cap index was down by 2.05%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.52% and FMCG up by 0.20%, while Industrials down by 2.28%, Oil & Gas down by 2.20%, Capital Goods down by 2.07%, Consumer Durables down by 1.87% and Energy down by 1.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation of India up by 2.87%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.24%, Infosys up by 0.92%, Nestle up by 0.61% and Asian Paints up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 4.22%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.05%, Zomato down by 1.91%, Titan Company down by 1.50% and Reliance Industries down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to enhance the economic viability of cooperative sugar mills (CSMs), Department of Food & Public Distribution, Government of India, has notified a scheme for CSMs under modified Ethanol Interest Subvention Scheme for Conversion of their existing sugarcane-based feedstock ethanol plants into multi-feedstock based plants to use grains like Maize and Damaged Food Grains (DFG).

This move is beneficial, ensuring the functioning of cooperative sugar mills throughout the year, as the sugarcane crushing period is limited to 4-5 months only in a year due to which sugar mills can operate for a limited period of time. This further leads to reduction in their overall operational efficiency and productivity. 

The conversion to multi-feedstock based plants would not only make the existing ethanol plants of CSMs capable of operating when sugar based feedstocks are not available for ethanol production but will also improve efficiency and productivity of these plants. As a result, these cooperative ethanol plants will have increased financial viability.

Under this modified Ethanol Interest Subvention Scheme, Government is facilitating entrepreneurs with Interest subvention at the rate of 6% per annum or 50% of rate of interest charged by banks/financial institutions, whichever is lower, on the loans to be extended by banks/financial institutions is being borne by the Central Government for five years including one-year moratorium.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22466.80, down by 85.70 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 22446.55 and 22676.75. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation of India up by 3.06%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.32%, Infosys up by 0.87%, Nestle up by 0.48% and Asian Paints up by 0.40%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.96%, Indusind Bank down by 3.86%, Trent down by 3.77%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.51% and Eicher Motors down by 2.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 447.81 points or 1.88% to 23,783.49, Jakarta Composite plunged 49.69 points or 0.75% to 6,586.31,  Taiwan  Weighted lost 116.92 points or 0.52% to 22,459.15, Straits Times fell 8.71 points or 0.22% to 3,905.77 and Shanghai Composite weakened 6.39 points or 0.19% to 3,366.16, while  KOSPI increased 6.91 points or 0.27% to 2,570.39 and Nikkei 225 surged 141.1 points or 0.38% to 37,028.27.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 38.69 points or 0.45% to 8,641.19, France’s CAC fell 38.82 points or 0.48% to 8,081.98 and Germany’s DAX lost 174.41 points or 0.76% to 22,834.53.