Sensex, Nifty add losses in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks added losses in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious, after the former UK government scientific advisor and director of Wellcome Trust, Jeremy Farrar, said that the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant brought the world back to square one in dealing with the pandemic.

Besides, amid global scare due to new coronavirus variant Omicron, the RBI is likely to maintain status quo in its upcoming monetary policy and wait for a more opportune time to calibrate benchmark interest rate to promote growth without sacrificing the main objective of containing inflation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, as Singapore retail sales grew in October. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that retail sales grew 7.5 percent year-on-year in October, after a 6.8 percent rise in September. Motor vehicle sales declined 13.1 percent annually in October, following a 2.0 percent fall in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57244.81, down by 451.65 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 57215.00 and 57781.46. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.40%, while Small cap index was down by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.69%, Capital Goods up by 0.08%, Basic Materials up by 0.06% and Metal up by 0.04%, while IT down by 1.76%, TECK down by 1.66%, Auto down by 1.02%, Oil & Gas down by 1.01% and FMCG down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 0.72%, ICICI Bank up by 0.59%, Tata Steel up by 0.36% and Axis Bank up by 0.29%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 2.54%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.02%, Infosys down by 2.01%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.98% and Indusind Bank down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that defence exports from India during the last seven years have been of more than Rs 38,000 crore due to the government's initiatives. He said ‘we have an estimated Rs 85,000 crore industry of aerospace and defence and contribution of the private sector in this has increased to Rs 18,000 crore. He also urged the MSMEs to invest more in research and development as it would help strengthen the nation's security.

Reiterating the government's focus on encouraging exports, the minister expressed hopes that India will soon become a net exporter from a net importer. The government aims to achieve the export target of Rs 35,000 crore by 2024-25. Presently, India is exporting defence equipment to around 70 countries.  He stated that the Indian armed forces have completely supported the self-reliance initiative of the government.

Therefore, Singh said the number of contracts given to indigenous defence industry has increased.  He also accepted that the big companies have a major role to play in defence manufacturing but the reality is that the work of numerous small companies is hidden behind that of big companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17063.00, down by 133.70 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 17057.70 and 17216.75. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.49%, JSW Steel up by 1.38%, HDFC up by 0.77%, Hindalco up by 0.69% and ICICI Bank up by 0.61%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 5.88%, HCL Tech down by 2.55%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.17%, Infosys down by 2.06% and Wipro down by 2.01% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite soared 34.90 points or 0.53% to 6,573.41, Straits Times advanced 24.45 points or 0.79% to 3,126.38, Shanghai Composite gained 13.49 points or 0.37% to 3,620.92, KOSPI rose 10.71 points or 0.36% to 2,979.04 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 8.79 points or 0.05% to 17,705.93. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 93.97 points or 0.34% to 27,935.60 and Hang Seng decreased 300.30 points or 1.26% to 23,466.39.