Domestic indices trade lower in early deals; Titan leads losers

Continuing the bearish trend seen over the past two days, Indian equity benchmarks made pessimistic start on Thursday tracking lackluster cues from global peers. Markets are trading lower with cut of around half a percent each in early deals due to selling in Oil & Gas, IT and PSU stocks. Market participants are looking forward to the last leg of quarterly numbers from India Inc for further cues. Also, continued selling in FII weighted down on the markets. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 469.50 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 766.95 crore in the Indian equity market on November 10, as per provisional data available on the NSE. However, downside remained capped as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das exuded confidence in the economy clipping at the projected 9.5 per cent growth this fiscal, stating that growth impulses and the fast-moving economic indicators are strong. Meanwhile, the central government increased the procurement price of all three categories of ethanol produced from different sources by 1.27-2.55 per cent for the 2021-22 season, which begins from December 1.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets traded lower following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, on a drop in crude oil prices and inflation concerns as data showed that the annual rate of US consumer price inflation in October was at its highest level in 31 years. This has raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates even though the Federal Reserve has signaled it will not be in a hurry to begin raising rates. Back home, sugar stocks were in focus as trade body AISTA said sugar mills have exported 2.76 lakh tonnes of sugar in the last 40 days of the current marketing year with maximum shipments to the UAE. In scrip specific development, Bank of Baroda traded higher as it posted a 24.4 per cent YoY rise in net profit at Rs 2,088 crore in September 2021 quarter (Q2FY22) on robust rise in non-interest income including fees and recoveries from written-off accounts. Besides, Paytm's Rs 18,300-crore IPO was fully subscribed with FIIs flooding the issue with offers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60071.57, down by 281.25 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 60030.32 and 60293.25. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.81%, Metal up by 0.68%, Capital Goods up by 0.41%, Basic Materials up by 0.27%, Realty up by 0.23%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.84%, IT down by 0.63%, PSU down by 0.62%, FMCG down by 0.57%, Bankex down by 0.55% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.68%, Tata Steel up by 0.83%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.58%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.48% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.05%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.45%, HDFC down by 1.21%, Axis Bank down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.92% and Nestle down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das exuded confidence in the economy clipping at the projected 9.5 per cent growth this fiscal and said that growth impulses and the fast-moving economic indicators are strong. Crediting the many measures taken by the government and the RBI for the faster-than-expected recovery so far, Das said the fiscal and taxation reforms especially have played key role in driving growth and reviving confidence. These measures will continue drive growth going forward.

But as the monetary measures have almost reached its limits, going forward the government has to be in the forefront to drive faster growth and the central bank can continue to support to revive the economy ravaged by the pandemic. Citing the slew of measures the government has taken since the pandemic struck in March 2020, the governor specifically mentioned tax cuts on fuels, tax resolution for the telecom sector, annulling of the retro tax legislation, sale of Air India, plans to sell some of the public sector banks and PLI scheme as the major reforms and growth-drivers bearing fruits now.

He said ‘Though soaring global crude prices and many geopolitical issues along with other global headwinds are challenges to growth, the overall growth outlook is very positive for us. I am very confident that our GDP will comfortably grow by 9.5 per cent this fiscal because all growth impulses are very strong, and the fast-moving indicators are stronger.’ He added ‘Our assessment is that we are on a path of reaching the 9.5 per cent growth comfortably’. But, he noted that there are global headwinds as advanced economies, which have recovered faster from the pandemic and had posted higher growth numbers earlier, seem to have moderated now.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17924.10, down by 93.10 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 17910.55 and 17971.35. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 1.63%, Tata Steel up by 0.85%, JSW Steel up by 0.75%, Tata Motors up by 0.66% and Hindalco up by 0.63%. On the flip side, IOC down by 3.26%, ONGC down by 2.47%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.59%, BPCL down by 1.44% and Wipro down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times fell 0.27 points or 0.01% to 3,231.05, Hang Seng declined 30.29 points or 0.12% to 24,965.85, Taiwan Weighted lost 41.42 points or 0.24% to 17,518.23, KOSPI slipped 16.47 points or 0.56% to 2,913.70 and Jakarta Composite weakened 8.61 points or 0.13% to 6,674.54. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 rose 158.52 points or 0.54% to 29,265.30 and Shanghai Composite was up by 20.69 points or 0.59% to 3,513.15.