Bourses add losses; Nifty slips below 18300 mark

Indian bourses added losses and continued to trade in red in the afternoon session, with the Sensex losing over 300 points and Nifty falling below the 18300 level, weighed down by consumer durables, metal and basic materials stocks. Sentiment on the street weakened as investors turn cautious as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stood as net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 505.79 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data. On the sectoral front, metal was under pressure as rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that steel prices are set to go up further due to rising raw material prices in China and the expected coal or power shortage that will potentially weigh on the earlier-anticipated price correction. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors eyeing for inflation updates from Britain and some other European governments. Higher inflation might force central banks to act sooner than planned on hiking interest rates and rolling back other economic stimulus.

Back home, the market breadth on BSE was negative in the ratio of 850:2325 while 134 scrips remained unchanged. Currently, BSE Sensex is trading at 61396.66, down by 319.39 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 61345.78 and 61880.36. There were 9 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.63%, while Small cap index was down by 1.96%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.49% and TECK was up by 0.43%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.68%, Metal down by 2.54%, Basic Materials down by 2.08%, Consumer Discretionary down by 2.00% and Utilities was down by 1.95% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.52%, SBI up by 2.55%, HCL Tech up by 1.47%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.24% and Ultratech Cement was up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.04%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.78%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.77% and Bajaj Auto was down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil in its latest report has said that steel prices are set to go up further due to rising raw material prices in China and the expected coal or power shortage that will potentially weigh on the earlier-anticipated price correction. It noted that after a brief cooling down in July-September, domestic steel prices began to rise again in October, with major steelmakers increasing the price of flat steel by Rs 1,500-3,000 per tonne. Long steel prices also rose Rs 3,000 per tonne in the first week of October, led by higher coal prices and healthy demand.

According to the report, despite this material increase, domestic flat steel is priced at Rs 10,000-12,000 per tonne, lower than global landed prices. China's hot-rolled coil was around $980 per tonne in September, which kept domestic prices up. That means domestic prices are 13-15 per cent lower than global landed prices. All this can be stated differently as having room to raise domestic prices further, and a correction this quarter appears unlikely as prices are likely to hold.

The agency expects prices to retain their upward bias through this quarter. While the January-September 2021 period saw the cost rising, led by the iron ore rally, the October-December season is likely to see higher cost inflation, led by coking coal and thermal coal, along with other inputs such as ferroalloys, whose prices have surged since September.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18296.40, down by 122.35 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 18283.80 and 18458.30. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 3.51%, SBI up by 2.60%, HCL Tech up by 1.44%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.23% and Ultratech Cement was up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.15%, Coal India down by 3.20%, Eicher Motors down by 2.95%, Indian Oil Corporation down by 2.62% and BPCL was down by 2.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 15.91 points or 0.53% to 3,013.13, Taiwan Weighted dropped 12.85 points or 0.08% to 16,887.82, Shanghai Composite declined 3.78 points or 0.11% to 3,589.37 and Straits Times was down by 2.29 points or 0.07% to 3,196.72.

On the other hand; Nikkei 225 surged 40.03 points or 0.14% to 29,255.55 and Hang Seng was up by 328.78 points or 1.27% to 26,115.99.