Benchmarks trim losses; trade continues in red

Indian equities trim losses but continued to trade in red as fears of a faster rate hike in the US spooked traders' sentiment. Investors’ mood remained negative with Fitch Ratings’ statement that higher fiscal deficits and lack of clarity on consolidation plans in the Budget add risks to its projection of lowering of India's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio. However, markets trimmed some of their losses as traders took some support with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India will be the fastest-growing economy this year and by the next year, the country will be the fastest-growing economy among the large economies. Traders were seen piling positions in Energy and Healthcare stocks while selling was witnessed in Utilities, Power and Capital Goods sector stocks.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading higher as investors await key US inflation data later in the week. Back home, the market breadth remained in favour of decliners, as there were 926 shares on the gaining side against 2298 shares on the losing side, while 90 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57535.78, down by 85.41 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 57058.77 and 57925.82. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.53%, while Small cap index was down by 1.24%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.23% and Healthcare was up by 0.04%, while Utilities down by 2.14%, Power down by 1.97%, Capital Goods down by 1.18%, PSU down by 1.17% and Realty was down by 1.06% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.37%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.59%, Asian Paints up by 0.92%, Titan Co up by 0.72% and Tata Steel was up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.50%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.23%, SBI down by 1.16%, TCS down by 1.15% and Indusind Bank was down by 1.06% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad has said that the banks' gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) have declined to Rs 8,00,463 crore (6.93 per cent) as of September 30, 2021 from Rs 9,33,779 crore (GNPA ratio of 9.07 per cent) as on March 31, 2019. Of this, the share of public sector banks (PSBs) in bad loans proportion has also declined 72 per cent against nearly 80 per cent.

The minister said GNPAs of public sector banks as a proportion to that of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) have decreased from 79.2 per cent as on March 31, 2019, to 72.3 per cent as on September 9, 2021. However, he said gross NPAs of private sector banks as a proportion of that of SCBs have increased from 19.4 per cent to 24.9 per cent during this period.

Karad also stated that Gross NPAs of deposit-taking NBFCs and non-deposit taking systemically important NBFCs stood at Rs 1,91,413 crore (GNPA ratio of 6.87 per cent) at the end of September 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17202.05, down by 11.55 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 17043.65 and 17306.45. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.54%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.81%, Divi's Lab up by 1.51%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.17% and Cipla was up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Indian Oil Corporation down by 1.71%, ONGC down by 1.54%, Power Grid down by 1.47%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.45% and TCS was down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher, Straits Times advanced 25.68 points or 0.76% to 3,392.16, Shanghai Composite gained 0.34 points or 0.01% to 3,429.92, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 66.26 points or 0.37% to 17,966.56, Nikkei 225 surged 35.65 points or 0.13% to 27,284.52 and KOSPI was up by 2.29 points or 0.08% to 2,747.35. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 9.47 points or 0.14% to 6,795.47 and Hang Seng was down by 309.58 points or 1.26% to 24,269.97.