Key gauges extend losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended their losses in morning deals, tracking losses in index-majors Infosys, HDFC and Reliance Industries despite gains across most other Asian markets. Traders remained cautious with the UN trade body said that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows to India in 2021 were 26 per cent lower, mainly because large M&A deals recorded in 2020 were not repeated. Some concern also came with private survey stating that MSMEs have cited challenges related to high costs, exchange-related issues and concerns around frauds while doing business across borders. Sectorally, aviation industry’s stocks remained in watch as DGCA data showed that domestic airlines flew 83.8 million passengers in 2021 registering a growth of 33 per cent over the previous year. In 2020 airlines had transported 63 million passengers. On the global front, Asian markets are trading in green despite the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders picked up stocks at a bargain after the recent selloff amid the raging spread of the coronavirus omicron variant.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59702.43, down by 396.39 points or 0.66% after trading in a range of 59684.37 and 60045.48. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.90%, Utilities up by 0.84%, Metal up by 0.76%, Basic Materials up by 0.61% and PSU up by 0.50%, while Energy down by 1.07%, IT down by 1.05%, TECK down by 0.93%, Healthcare down by 0.34% and Oil & Gas down by 0.32% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corp up by 3.47%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.35%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.33%, NTPC up by 0.96% and Nestle up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.84%, HDFC down by 1.70%, Reliance Industries down by 1.47%, HCL Technologies down by 1.36% and TCS down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) digital payments index (DPI) that measures the adoption of online transactions has showed that digital payments across the country registered a growth of nearly 40 per cent in a year through September 2021. The newly constituted RBI’s digital payment index (RBI-DPI) stood at 304.06 during September 2021 as against 270.59 in March 2021 and 217.74 in September 2020.

The RBI-DPI Index continues to demonstrate significant growth in adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country. The Reserve Bank of India had announced construction of a composite Reserve Bank of India - Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) with March 2018 as base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

The RBI-DPI comprises 5 broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different periods. These parameters are Payment Enablers (weight 25 per cent); Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10 per cent); Payment Infrastructure - Supply-side factors (15 per cent); Payment Performance (45 per cent); and Consumer Centricity (5 per cent). The index is published on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17828.35, down by 110.05 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 17826.15 and 17943.70. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 3.40%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.01%, Coal India up by 1.89%, Tata Consumer Product up by 1.51% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.38%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.01%, HDFC down by 1.86%, HCL Technologies down by 1.68%, Reliance Industries down by 1.55% and ONGC down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading in green; Jakarta Composite soared 38.84 points or 0.59% to 6,630.82, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 23.45 points or 0.13% to 18,250.91, Nikkei 225 surged 335.75 points or 1.22% to 27,802.98, Hang Seng increased 561.47 points or 2.33% to 24,689.32, KOSPI rose 13.36 points or 0.47% to 2,855.64, Straits Times advanced 7.13 points or 0.22% to 3,291.07 and Shanghai Composite gained 10.17 points or 0.29% to 3,568.35.