India Continues Its Under performance!

As markets continue to slide and stock prices tumble for a majority of stocks even as Indian markets continue their underperformance. Indian markets were seen underperforming their global peers yet again.FTSE was the best performing index globally in the past couple of weeks, followed by DAX. FTSE was up by 2.41 per cent and DAX gained 0.76 per cent. NASDAQ was the best performing index in the US markets, again highlighting the positive momentum in the technology stocks. S&P 500 was up by 0.24 per cent, while Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to close down by 0.40 per cent. The Asian markets were mostly down, with the sole exception of Shanghai, which was up by 0.36 per cent. Hang Seng was down by 0.25 per cent and Nikkie was down by 0.32 per cent. 

Almost all the sectoral indices were seen trading down in the past couple of weeks. The Sensex was down by 2.71 per cent, while Nifty had lost 3.14 per cent. As expected, the auto index underperformed the most and was down by 9.6 per cent. Metal index was down by 7.27 per cent. The banking stocks saw major correction, pulling the index down by 3.53 per cent. The broader markets underperformed yet again, with mid-cap index correcting by 5.43 per cent and small-cap index correcting by 6.18 per cent. The IT stocks sizzled in the past couple of weeks even as the IT index gained by 2.87 per cent. The realty index was down by 3 per cent, power index by 2.43 per cent and FMCG index by 1.55 per cent.

Gold prices were up by 0.75 per cent in the past couple of weeks, while crude oil was seen cooling off by almost 1.5 per cent in the past 15 days.

The FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 5508 crore, while the DIIs were buyers to the tune of Rs 11874.45 crore. 

Several factors, including continuous selling by the FIIs, have led to the underperformance of the Indian markets. The slowing global economic growth as well as the recent budget announcement made by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman remain a concern. All eyes will be on the current earnings season and what the RBI does with the interest rates. Globally, markets will be tracking new developments on the trade war front and what happens with the interest rates.

Domestically, investors will be tracking the auto sector performance and how the NBFC sector performs as these two sectors are at the centre of crisis of the Indian economy.