Weak trade prevails in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the morning session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters. Sentiments remained weak as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the second time in three months scaled down India’s growth estimate for the fiscal year ending March 2022 due to supply chain issue of industries. It has pegged India’s growth estimate at 9.7% for the current fiscal in its latest supplement. It had projected a growth rate of 10% in its September supplement.  Traders failed to get any sense of relief with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla’s statement that the Indian economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic-induced downturn and is returning to its trajectory of rapid growth. He also said India's trade figures are promising and that the total foreign direct investment the country received in the current financial year stood at $81.72 billion (one billion is equal to Rs 100 crore), the highest ever.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green ahead of the upcoming meetings. The Fed is on Wednesday expected to signal a faster wind-down of its $120 billion a month bond buying programme in a move to fight high inflation, which could move it one step closer to raising interest rates. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are also scheduled to meet this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57855.87, down by 261.22 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 57778.48 and 58218.25. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.49%, Capital Goods up by 0.42%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36%, Auto up by 0.28% and Industrials up by 0.22%, while IT down by 1.21%, TECK down by 1.16%, Realty down by 0.98%, Consumer Durables down by 0.49% and Healthcare down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.54%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.10%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.55% and Axis Bank up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.75%, Infosys down by 1.51%, TCS down by 1.48%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.40% and HCL Technologies down by 1.34% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has called upon fellow Ministers of neighbouring countries to work together to transform the subcontinent and said India is becoming the global hub for innovation with the third-largest startup ecosystem. Further, he called for enhancing India's economic ties with the nations of the Southern African Customs Union which consists of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho.

He said India is looking for Free trade Agreements (FTAs) with like-minded nations with transparency and mutual benefit and growth as key pillars. He mentioned that India is also reviewing existing Free trade Agreements (FTA) with ASEAN, Japan, Korea to strengthen them and forging enhanced trade alliances with countries like UAE, EU, UK, Israel, Australia, Canada, Russia, Oman and the GCC.

Besides, he said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, India has emerged as a source of resilience and a trusted Partner and added that India had tried to the best of its ability to meet all its international service commitments. He also assured that India would continue helping nations in need as India intrinsically believed in brotherhood, partnership and the need to work together to solve problems collectively. He added that India had focussed on its neighbourhood during the pandemic and stood ready to support all its friends with vaccines and medical supplies

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17246.45, down by 78.45 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 17227.35 and 17351.20. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.42%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.07%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.90%, Coal India up by 0.60% and Eicher Motors up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 2.29%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.70%, TCS down by 1.53%, Infosys down by 1.45% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.40% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 48.99 points or 0.21% to 23,684.94, Jakarta Composite soared 38.59 points or 0.58% to 6,654.23, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 38.10 points or 0.22% to 17,637.47, Nikkei 225 surged 7.08 points or 0.02% to 28,439.72 and Shanghai Composite gained 2.66 points or 0.07% to 3,664.19.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 4.70 points or 0.16% to 2,983.25 and Straits Times trembled 11.40 points or 0.37% to 3,109.69.