Markets trade under pressure in early deals; Metal, Realty lead losers

With a gap-down opening, Indian equity benchmarks extended their previous session’s losses on Wednesday amid downcast global cues as a surge in oil and Chinese factory gate prices added to worries surrounding inflation. Markets are trading under pressure with cut of over half a percent each in early deals due to board based selling in Metal, Realty and Bankex stocks. Some cautiousness came in with Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj’s statement that excise duty cut on diesel and petrol prices will burden the government's coffers, but it has no plans to increase the borrowing immediately. Foreign fund outflow also weighted down on the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,445.25 crore on November 9, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet heads of public sector banks (PSBs) next week to review performance of the lenders and progress made by them to support the economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global cues remained dulled with all the Asian markets trading lower following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders are concerned around Evergrande's debt mountain and its impact on China's financial system. Back home, aviation stocks were in focus as ICRA report said domestic air passenger traffic grew by a whopping 67 per cent year-on-year at around 87-88 lakh in October, on the back of festive season demand amid continuous fall in the number of COVID-19 infection cases. In scrip specific development, BHEL slumped after reporting a quarterly loss.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60078.55, down by 354.90 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 59967.45 and 60295.26. There were 6 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.36%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.29%, Telecom up by 0.18%, Healthcare up by 0.15%, Auto up by 0.15%, Energy up by 0.06%, while Metal down by 1.97%, Realty down by 1.72%, Bankex down by 0.94%, Basic Materials down by 0.79%, Power down by 0.67% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.58%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.51%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.48%, Sun Pharma up by 0.39% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.74%, Indusind Bank down by 1.45%, ICICI Bank down by 1.42%, HDFC down by 1.19% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, terming the 'Services' sector as the key driver of India's economic growth, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the country is poised to achieve a services export target of $1 trillion by the year 2030. He added that the sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes around 40 percent to India’s total global exports. Services trade surplus was $89 billion in FY 2020-21 and it has been the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient (53 percent of FDI inflows 2000-2021).

Lauding India's commitment to enable ‘work from home’ during the pandemic, Goyal said that while services trade remained depressed in other countries, India’s services sector showed immense resilience. He added ‘Sectors like tourism, hospitality, etc. which suffered due to COVID-19 are showing revival signs’. The minister said that in 2020, India became the 7th largest services exporter in the world, moving up the ladder by two positions. Also, Services PMI rose to a decade high of 58.4 in October 21.

Emphasizing that the Service sector is country’s competitive advantage, powered by Skills, startups and IT Solutions, the Minister said that India's services have the twin power of universal acceptance and universal attraction. The Union Minister also highlighted the central government's initiatives Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, collateral-free Automatic Loans for Businesses and MSMEs and initiatives in Skill development and said ‘Rs 56,027 crore was released under various Export Promotion schemes’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17940.35, down by 103.90 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 17915.00 and 17973.45. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.18%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.65%, Eicher Motors up by 0.95%, Britannia Industries up by 0.75% and Cipla up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.83%, JSW Steel down by 2.57%, Hindalco down by 1.99%, Coal India down by 1.82% and Indusind Bank down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 169.74 points or 0.58% to 29,115.72, Straits Times declined 18.34 points or 0.57% to 3,225.08, Hang Seng plunged 291.86 points or 1.18% to 24,521.27, Taiwan Weighted fell 12.74 points or 0.07% to 17,528.62, KOSPI lost 25.24 points or 0.85% to 2,937.22, Jakarta Composite dropped 9.62 points or 0.14% to 6,660.31 and Shanghai Composite was down by 42.20 points or 1.20% to 3,464.80.