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Indian equities remain in red terrain
Apr-18-2019

Indian equity benchmarks continued their trade in red territory in afternoon session, following subdued trend in Asian markets. Domestic sentiments remained dampened with private report indicating that unemployment rate in India has doubled in eight years to 2018 as 50 lakh lost jobs in last two years beginning with demonetisation in November 2016. Some concern also came in with former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan’s statement that protectionism does not really help preserve jobs and offers little defence against the job-destroying effects of automation and Artificial Intelligence, asserting that industrial and developing nations cannot afford to ignore the democratic reaction from those left behind by globalisation and technological change. However, further losses were restricted as some support came in with report that investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in domestic capital market rose to Rs 78,110 crore at the end of March, amid positive market sentiments. Meanwhile, the meeting of 25 WTO member countries on May 13-14 here is expected to come out with a declaration on critical issues including 'special and differential treatment' for developing nations and impasse over the appointment of members to the appellate body of dispute settlement.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as investors in most countries wound down going into the long Easter break, with positive comments on the China-US trade talks and healthy Chinese growth unable to fire buying activity. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 39162.97, down by 112.67 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 39154.25 and 39487.45. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.82%, while Small cap index was down by 0.91%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.50%, Oil & Gas up by 0.59% and Auto was up by 0.02%, while Realty down by 2.25%, Telecom down by 2.15%, Metal down by 1.83%, Basic Materials down by 1.18% and Capital Goods was down by 1.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors - DVR up by 3.33%, Tata Motors up by 2.75%, Reliance Industries up by 2.10%, Asian Paints up by 0.65% and Hero MotoCorp was up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 3.66%, Vedanta down by 3.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.68%, SBI down by 1.88% and Tata Steel was down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that India has been registering more than 7 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate and this could not have happened without adequate job creation. He also said that when non-NDA ruled states like Karnataka and West Bengal are claiming that jobs are being created, then it was not possible that at all India level, employment is not being generated.

Kant said “how is it possible that we are having 7.5 percent growth and jobs are not being created? It is not possible.” He pointed out that If West Bengal and Karnataka are saying that jobs have been created in their respective states, then how it is possible that at the national level there is no employment generation. His statement comes against the backdrop of a report by Azim Premji University suggesting that employment opportunities declined and 5 million men lost their jobs between 2016 and 2018.

Niti Aayog CEO has stated that India needs to accelerate its growth rate from 7 percent to 10 percent. He also expressed hopes that the country will be amongst the top 25 countries in World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking in the next three years. Adding further, he said Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) were major reforms undertaken by the Modi government and real impact of these reforms will start reflecting in next two years. He also pitched for opening up of mining and coal sectors for boost job creation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 11747.85, down by 39.30 points or 0.33% after trading in a range of 11738.50 and 11856.15. There were 13 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.82%, Reliance Industries up by 2.27%, Wipro up by 1.89%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.16% and BPCL was up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Indiabulls Housing Finance down by 3.79%, Yes Bank down by 3.72%, Vedanta down by 3.30%, Hindalco down by 2.88% and Bharti Airtel was down by 2.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 187.85 points or 0.84% to 22,090.12, Hang Seng decreased 176.71 points or 0.59% to 29,947.97, Taiwan Weighted dropped 35.24 points or 0.32% to 10,962.02, KOSPI fell 32.12 points or 1.43% to 2,213.77, Shanghai Composite declined 13.59 points or 0.42% to 3,249.53 and Straits Times trembled 7.83 points or 0.23% to 3,340.81.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 37.25 points or 0.57% to 6,518.79.
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