Markets trade marginally lower on weak global cues

Indian equity markets have made cautious start on the last day of the holiday-truncated trading week amid weak cues from global markets. Markets are trading marginally lower in early deals ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts later in the day. However, downside remained capped as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there are clear signs of an uptick in the economy and the industry should now start taking risks and invest in capacity creation that will help cut reliance on imports. She also asked the industry to offer jobs to reduce income disparity and cut down on importing finished goods reduce and instead ramp up investment in manufacturing. Meanwhile, department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said the government will invite financial bids for privatisation of five to six public sector undertakings (PSUs) in December-January, and close these transactions in the current financial year.

On the global front, Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street as traders concerned about the near-term outlook for the markets and economy following recent volatility amid concerns about inflation and reports showing a rise in coronavirus cases in several countries in the region and Europe. US markets ended lower on Wednesday on inflation fears and supply chain concerns stemming from retailers' earnings, with investors betting the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner than expected to tame rising prices.

Back home, there were some buzz in sugar stocks as industry body ISMA said India’s sugar production rose 24 per cent to 20.9 lakh tonnes during October 1-November 15 on higher output in Maharashtra and Karnataka, while mills have entered into contracts to export 25 lakh tonnes of sweetener so far. Meanwhile, Indian digital payments company Paytm is set to make its stock market debut today, after its $2.5 billion initial public offering (IPO), India’s largest, was oversubscribed last week. Paytm, which counts China’s Ant Group and SoftBank among its backers, raised $1.1 billion from institutional investors and last week received $2.64 billion worth of bids for the remaining shares on offer, or 1.89 times. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59969.69, down by 38.64 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 59936.24 and 60177.52. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index up by 0.05%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.55%, Realty up by 0.45%, Metal up by 0.16%, PSU up by 0.16% and Telecom up by 0.15%, while Auto down by 0.91%, Oil & Gas down by 0.50%, Healthcare down by 0.36%, IT down by 0.33% and TECK down by 0.30% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.05%, Titan Co up by 0.83%, Power Grid up by 0.63%, ITC up by 0.63% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.07%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.91%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.79%, HCL Tech. down by 0.71% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said there are clear signs of an uptick in the economy and the industry should now start taking risks and invest in capacity creation that will help cut reliance on imports.

Sitharaman said ‘I appeal to industry not to further delay increasing capacity, not to further delay looking at areas to partner in technology’. Further, she also asked the industry to offer jobs to reduce income disparity and cut down on importing finished goods reduce and instead ramp up investment in manufacturing.

She added ‘at a time when India is looking at impetus to growth, I want Indian industry to be a lot more risk-taking and understand what India wants.’ Besides, she said Prime Minister Modi has asked all ministers to identify compliance burdens for the industry in their respective ministries and departments, and simplify them.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17883.40, down by 15.25 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 17873.10 and 17945.60. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.55%, SBI up by 0.78%, Grasim Industries up by 0.74%, Shree Cement up by 0.72% and Power Grid up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.44%, ONGC down by 1.37%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.13% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets are mostly trading in red, Hang Seng decreased 355.62 points or 1.39% to 25,294.46, Nikkei 225 slipped 247.90 points or 0.84% to 29,440.43, Straits Times trembled 0.11 points or 0% to 3,232.57, Jakarta Composite lost 42.22 points or 0.63% to 6,633.58 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.56 points or 0.13% to 3,532.81. On the other hand, KOSPI rose 0.83 points or 0.03% to 2,963.25 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 54.21 points or 0.31% to 17,818.25.