Bears took control of D-Street in the second half of the trading session on Tuesday to push the index below its crucial psychological support level placed at 35,000\. The Nifty50 closed below its crucial support placed at 10,600, which suggests that more pain in offing.

Indian market corrected ahead of the outcome of crucial MPC meet while broader market took a hit after BSE on Monday decided to bring 109 companies under surveillance which also dented the sentiment.

Stocks which were bought under surveillance include names like Reliance Naval and Engineering, Amtek Auto, GVK Power & Infrastructure under enhanced surveillance measures. "...100 percent margins shall be applicable with effect from June 6, 2018, on all open positions as on June 5, 2018, and new positions created from June 6, 2018, onwards," the exchange said in a circular.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 108.68 points lower or 0.31 percent at 34,903.21 while the Nifty50 ended 35.35 points down at 10,593.15.

On the sectoral front, the S&P BSE Energy index rose 0.25 percent, followed by the S&P BSE oil & gas index which ended 0.10 percent higher.

On the losing front, the S&P BSE Telecom index ended 3 percent lower, followed by the S&P BSE Capital Goods slipped 1.9 percent, and the S&P BSE IT index was down 1.5 percent.

NPAs have been in the news regularly for a while, and there has been a fair bit of doom saying around them of late. Ever since the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank fraud became public knowledge, the central government seems keen to be perceived as being on a war footing against NPAs. There is a constant stream of news on Non Performing Assets of banks. Massive numbers - thousands of crores of rupees- are reported to the point where NPAs probably deserve their own segment in business news. They’ll be more interesting than weather forecasts for sure.

Let’s deconstruct this NPA business and try to understand what is going on.

An NPA, or a Non Performing Asset, is a way of classifying loans or advances that are in default, or are in arrears, on scheduled payments of principal or interest. Meaning, the principal or interest payment remained overdue, generally a period of 90 days. Bank consider loans that they have given as assets. An asset is classed as non-performing when it does not generate income for the lender anymore.

The total amount of such bad loans across the banking sector, what’s known as Gross NPA, was estimated to be around 8.4 lakh crores in December. This number is expected to hit a peak of 11 lakh crores when updated figures are released later. The Hindu reported in February this year that in March 2017, public sector banks accounted for 6.8 lakh crore of the 7.9 lakh crore bad loans; private sector banks held 91,900 crore and foreign banks the rest. In December, it claimed “…stressed assets held by Indian banks amount to around Rs.10 lakh crore or $150 billion, roughly twice the GDP of Sri Lanka.” Estimates suggested that PSBs accounted for over 88% of the total gross NPAs in December. These NPAs account for 12% of all banking loans in the country.

NPAs have been in the news regularly for a while, and there has been a fair bit of doom saying around them of late. Ever since the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank fraud became public knowledge, the central government seems keen to be perceived as being on a war footing against NPAs. There is a constant stream of news on Non Performing Assets of banks. Massive numbers - thousands of crores of rupees- are reported to the point where NPAs probably deserve their own segment in business news. They’ll be more interesting than weather forecasts for sure.

Let’s deconstruct this NPA business and try to understand what is going on.

An NPA, or a Non Performing Asset, is a way of classifying loans or advances that are in default, or are in arrears, on scheduled payments of principal or interest. Meaning, the principal or interest payment remained overdue, generally a period of 90 days. Bank consider loans that they have given as assets. An asset is classed as non-performing when it does not generate income for the lender anymore.

The total amount of such bad loans across the banking sector, what’s known as Gross NPA, was estimated to be around 8.4 lakh crores in December. This number is expected to hit a peak of 11 lakh crores when updated figures are released later. The Hindu reported in February this year that in March 2017, public sector banks accounted for 6.8 lakh crore of the 7.9 lakh crore bad loans; private sector banks held 91,900 crore and foreign banks the rest. In December, it claimed “…stressed assets held by Indian banks amount to around Rs.10 lakh crore or $150 billion, roughly twice the GDP of Sri Lanka.” Estimates suggested that PSBs accounted for over 88% of the total gross NPAs in December. These NPAs account for 12% of all banking loans in the country.

The Nifty50 is expected to open lower on Tuesday following muted trend seen in other Asian markets. The index closed 67 points lower at 10,628 on Monday.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 20.5 points or 0.19 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,593-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Wall Street’s three major indexes rose on Monday, led by a rally in tech stocks, pushing the Nasdaq to a record closing high as investors bet on a continuation of strong economic growth, while falling oil prices weighed on the energy sector, said a Reuters report.

Asian stocks dipped on Tuesday as the markets took a breather after the previous day’s rally, although tech-inspired Wall Street gains helped limit the losses, with investor focus moving away from trade concerns and back to benign economic fundamentals, it said.

The midcap and smallcap indices have been underperforming the Nifty since May 9\. From those levels, the Nifty has fallen only a percent while the midcap and smallcap indices have declined 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

It has been 85 sessions since January 29 when the Nifty formed an all-time high at 11,171\. Of these 85 sessions, the advance-decline ratio remained positive in only 25 sessions. In 2008, the advance-decline ratio remained positive in 35 out of the 85 sessions after Nifty formed a top at 6,357 on January 8.

This data indicates that even though the Nifty is placed just 5 percent from its recent high, the market breadth has remained negative for more number of sessions this time around as compared to the 2008 bear market when Nifty fell more than 22 percent from the top in the first 85 sessions.

What can possibly happen when an ex-Reality TV star turned US President with a penchant for snappy phrases like "Little Rocket Man" and comical threats promising "Fire and Fury" meets with an enigmatic counterpart? A counterpart who has given himself multiple titles like the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army?

What can possibly happen when these two one-of-a-kind men collide? We are talking about American President Donald J Trump and North-Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

Right at the onset, let us try to figure why this meeting is so important for North Korea. For one, the chance to occupy the same stage as an American President has been a matter of great prestige for North Korean leaders and both the father and the grandfather of Kim Jong-un struggled to accomplish this feat and failed because of their persistence to continue with their nuclear programme and unwillingness to go with the US's insistence upon denuclearisation.

President Jimmy Carter did meet with Kim Il Sung, Kim's grandfather, in 1994 but not much came of it, while former President Bill Clinton met Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, after he left office in 2009\. But while he was in power Bill Clinton had sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a meeting in 2000 with Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong-Il . A gesture that North-Korea considered to be an open snub.

When George W. Bush came into power, he froze the negotiations that had been initiated by Clinton and Albright and even went as far as calling the country a part of an “axis of evil” in 2002.  

President Barack Obama never got to the point of believing that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons and refused to react to what he called was "provocative behaviour" . What he was referring to were the occasional, immature threats that North Korea issued to both the US and South Korea.

Bears took control of D-Street in the second half of the trading session on Tuesday to push the index below its crucial psychological support level placed at 35,000\. The Nifty50 closed below its crucial support placed at 10,600, which suggests that more pain in offing.

Indian market corrected ahead of the outcome of crucial MPC meet while broader market took a hit after BSE on Monday decided to bring 109 companies under surveillance which also dented the sentiment.

Stocks which were bought under surveillance include names like Reliance Naval and Engineering, Amtek Auto, GVK Power & Infrastructure under enhanced surveillance measures. "...100 percent margins shall be applicable with effect from June 6, 2018, on all open positions as on June 5, 2018, and new positions created from June 6, 2018, onwards," the exchange said in a circular.

The S&P BSE Sensex closed 108.68 points lower or 0.31 percent at 34,903.21 while the Nifty50 ended 35.35 points down at 10,593.15.

On the sectoral front, the S&P BSE Energy index rose 0.25 percent, followed by the S&P BSE oil & gas index which ended 0.10 percent higher.

On the losing front, the S&P BSE Telecom index ended 3 percent lower, followed by the S&P BSE Capital Goods slipped 1.9 percent, and the S&P BSE IT index was down 1.5 percent.

NPAs have been in the news regularly for a while, and there has been a fair bit of doom saying around them of late. Ever since the Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank fraud became public knowledge, the central government seems keen to be perceived as being on a war footing against NPAs. There is a constant stream of news on Non Performing Assets of banks. Massive numbers - thousands of crores of rupees- are reported to the point where NPAs probably deserve their own segment in business news. They’ll be more interesting than weather forecasts for sure.

Let’s deconstruct this NPA business and try to understand what is going on.

An NPA, or a Non Performing Asset, is a way of classifying loans or advances that are in default, or are in arrears, on scheduled payments of principal or interest. Meaning, the principal or interest payment remained overdue, generally a period of 90 days. Bank consider loans that they have given as assets. An asset is classed as non-performing when it does not generate income for the lender anymore.

The total amount of such bad loans across the banking sector, what’s known as Gross NPA, was estimated to be around 8.4 lakh crores in December. This number is expected to hit a peak of 11 lakh crores when updated figures are released later. The Hindu reported in February this year that in March 2017, public sector banks accounted for 6.8 lakh crore of the 7.9 lakh crore bad loans; private sector banks held 91,900 crore and foreign banks the rest. In December, it claimed “…stressed assets held by Indian banks amount to around Rs.10 lakh crore or $150 billion, roughly twice the GDP of Sri Lanka.” Estimates suggested that PSBs accounted for over 88% of the total gross NPAs in December. These NPAs account for 12% of all banking loans in the country.

What can possibly happen when an ex-Reality TV star turned US President with a penchant for snappy phrases like "Little Rocket Man" and comical threats promising "Fire and Fury" meets with an enigmatic counterpart? A counterpart who has given himself multiple titles like the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army?

What can possibly happen when these two one-of-a-kind men collide? We are talking about American President Donald J Trump and North-Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

Right at the onset, let us try to figure why this meeting is so important for North Korea. For one, the chance to occupy the same stage as an American President has been a matter of great prestige for North Korean leaders and both the father and the grandfather of Kim Jong-un struggled to accomplish this feat and failed because of their persistence to continue with their nuclear programme and unwillingness to go with the US's insistence upon denuclearisation.

President Jimmy Carter did meet with Kim Il Sung, Kim's grandfather, in 1994 but not much came of it, while former President Bill Clinton met Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, after he left office in 2009\. But while he was in power Bill Clinton had sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a meeting in 2000 with Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong-Il . A gesture that North-Korea considered to be an open snub.

When George W. Bush came into power, he froze the negotiations that had been initiated by Clinton and Albright and even went as far as calling the country a part of an “axis of evil” in 2002.  

President Barack Obama never got to the point of believing that North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons and refused to react to what he called was "provocative behaviour" . What he was referring to were the occasional, immature threats that North Korea issued to both the US and South Korea.

The midcap and smallcap indices have been underperforming the Nifty since May 9\. From those levels, the Nifty has fallen only a percent while the midcap and smallcap indices have declined 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

It has been 85 sessions since January 29 when the Nifty formed an all-time high at 11,171\. Of these 85 sessions, the advance-decline ratio remained positive in only 25 sessions. In 2008, the advance-decline ratio remained positive in 35 out of the 85 sessions after Nifty formed a top at 6,357 on January 8.

This data indicates that even though the Nifty is placed just 5 percent from its recent high, the market breadth has remained negative for more number of sessions this time around as compared to the 2008 bear market when Nifty fell more than 22 percent from the top in the first 85 sessions.