Asian stock markets are lower today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares fall. The Nikkei 225 is trading flat while the Hang Seng is down 0.2%. The Shanghai Composite is trading down by 0.3%. The S&P 500 ended higher on Wednesday after a brutal two-day selloff, but the market faltered towards the session’s end as Apple shares surrendered gains.
Back home, India share markets have opened the day on a flat note with a positive bias. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 62 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 14 points. The BSE Mid Cap index opened up by 0.2% while BSE Small Cap index opened up by 0.3%.
Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with information technology stocks and FMCG stocks witnessing maximum buying interest. While bank stocks and PSU stocks have opened the day in the red.
The rupee is currently trading at Rs 71.13 against the US$.
In the news from the economy. As per the rating agency ICRA, India’s GDP growth for the second quarter of current financial (Q2FY19) is expected to dip to 7.2% on account sluggishness in agriculture and industry.
The fall in the growth number will be mainly due to a pull-down from the industry where growth is expected to slow down to 7.1% in the in the second quarter as compared to 10.3% in first quarter.
Note that, the GDP had grown by a higher than expected 8.2% in the first quarter of the current financial year as compared to the year-ago period.
The report further highlighted that higher fuel prices and the weak rupee were pointed out as the primary factors dragging the industrial growth, while an uneven and sub-par monsoon will impact the farm sector.
Besides, ICRA also stated that the pre-tax margins for companies have declined on a quarter-on-quarter basis because of a rise in the input and energy costs and the rupee depreciation.
