Weakness persisted on the bourses in early afternoon trade. At 12:16 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 231.43 points or 0.65% at 35,507.73. The Nifty 50 index was down 76.05 points or 0.7% at 10,780.65. Oil stocks declined. Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Negative Asian stocks weighed on the domestic bourses.
Domestic stocks edged lower in early trade tracking negative Asian stocks after the US Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone in its latest policy statement. Fresh selling in index pivotals pulled the key benchmark indices to intraday low in morning trade. Stocks continued to trade with weakness in mid-morning trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.58%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.27%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On the BSE, 861 shares rose and 1482 shares fell. A total of 120 shares were unchanged.
Oil stocks declined. Among shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies, Reliance Industries (down 0.98%), ONGC (down 1.5%) and Oil India (down 0.09%) edged lower.
Among PSU OMCs, HPCL (down 1.89%), BPCL (down 1.34%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 1.86%) declined.
Telecom stocks saw mixed trend. Bharti Airtel (up 0.09%) and Idea Cellular (up 0.49%) rose. MTNL (down 1.13%) and Reliance Communications (down 1.56%) fell.
Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 1.17%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.
Adani Transmission (ATL) rose 1.68%. ATL said it has received the letter of intent (LoI) from REC Transmission Projects Company (a wholly owned subsidiary of Rural Electrification Corporation) to build, own, operate and maintain the transmission project in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 13 June 2018.
With this win, the cumulative transmission network of ATL will reach around 12,500 ckt kms, out of which approximately 9,000 ckt kms are under operation. This is the first win for Adani Transmission in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which will help it establish as a pan India player and is also expected to bring in the benefits of economies of scale to the business in India.
On the macro front, India's current account deficit (CAD) widened in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 compared to a year ago, government data released after market hours yesterday, 13 June 2018 showed. India's CAD at US$ 13 billion (1.9% of GDP) in Q4 of 2017-18 increased from US$ 2.6 billion (0.4% of GDP) in Q4 of 2016 -17, but moderated marginally from US$ 13.7 billion (2.1% of GDP) in the preceding quarter. The widening of the CAD on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit (US$ 41.6 billion) brought about by a larger increase in merchandise imports relative to exports.
For the full year, the CAD increased to 1.9% of GDP in 2017-18 from 0.6% in 2016-17 on the back of a widening of the trade deficit. India's trade deficit increased to US$ 160 billion in 2017-18 from US$ 112.4 billion in 2016-17.
Traders and investors are closely awaiting a series of domestic and global events this week. The wholesale price index (WPI) inflation data will be announced today, 14 June 2018.
On the global front, the European Central Bank (ECB) will hold its policy meeting today, 14 June 2018, in which policy makers are poised to hold formal talks on ending its bond-buying program. The Bank of Japan meets tomorrow, 15 June 2018 with no change to policy expected.
Overseas, Asian stocks followed US equities lower as the Federal Reserve struck a hawkish tone in its latest policy statement. US stock benchmarks ended near session lows yesterday, 13 June 2018 as the Federal Reserve completed its second increase to benchmark interest rates in 2018, as expected, but signaled a slightly more aggressive plan to tighten monetary policy this year than had previously been projected.
The Federal Reserve voted to raise its benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 1.75% to 2%. Policymakers also projected a slightly faster pace of rate increases in the coming months, with two additional hikes expected by the end of this year, compared to one previously. They see another three rate increases next year, a pace unchanged from their previous forecast.
Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed was comfortable with a return of once-dormant inflation and emphasized the central bank's desire to avoid a policy error that could result in unnaturally inflating asset valuations or pushing the economy into a recession.
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