Benchmarks continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, as selling momentum in the equities persisted. Traders remain concerned as continuing its heavy selling spree for the eighth consecutive month, foreign investors pulled out nearly Rs 40,000 crore from the Indian equity market in May on fears of an aggressive rate hike by US Federal Reserve that dented investor sentiments. However, losses remain capped as some support came with private report stated that hiring activity in India increased by 40 per cent year-on-year in May 2022 led by strong growth in the sectors like travel, hospitality, retail, real estate and banking and financial services. Meanwhile, the government has decided not to impose countervailing duty on certain aluminium products being imported from Malaysia, as the finance ministry has not accepted the recommendations of the directorate general of trade remedies (DGTR).

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green despite worries about inflation and interest-rate hikes as the May U.S. employment report underscored Fed Chairman Powell's view of the labor market still being extraordinarily tight despite some moderation in wage growth. Back home, agriculture related stocks remained in focus with a private report that the government may announce higher-than-usual increases in minimum support prices (MSP) for the summer-sown crops in 2022-23 year soon, taking into consideration a sharp rise in costs of farming inputs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 55542.10, down by 227.13 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 55295.74 and 55767.14. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.70%, while Small cap index was down by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.43%, Power up by 0.41%, Utilities up by 0.39%, Energy up by 0.26% and Healthcare up by 0.15%, while IT down by 1.68%, Realty down by 1.41%, TECK down by 1.39%, Consumer Durables down by 1.09% and Consumer Discretionary down by 1.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.03%, Indusind Bank up by 0.68%, Axis Bank up by 0.67%, Sun Pharma up by 0.62% and HDFC Bank up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.83%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.34%, Wipro down by 1.83%, Asian Paints down by 1.52% and Infosys down by 1.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has decided not to impose countervailing duty on certain aluminium products being imported from Malaysia, as the finance ministry has not accepted the recommendations of the directorate general of trade remedies (DGTR).

The commerce ministry's investigation arm DGTR had conducted a probe into alleged exports subsidisation by Malaysia on 'aluminium primary foundry alloy ingot in different forms' following a complaint by the domestic industry and on January 31, 2022 recommended imposition of the duty. The central government, after considering the final findings of the designated authority (DGTR), has decided not to accept the recommendations.

In an application to the directorate, domestic firms had alleged that subsidised imports from Malaysia are causing material injury to them and had requested the imposition of countervailing duties on the imports. While the DGTR recommends the duty, the finance ministry takes the final call on the imposition. Countervailing duty is a country-specific duty imposed to safeguard the domestic industry against unfair trade subsidies provided by local governments of exporting nations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16513.00, down by 71.30 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 16444.55 and 16579.20. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.11%, NTPC up by 2.03%, Cipla up by 1.53%, JSW Steel up by 1.50% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.85%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.43%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.99%, Wipro down by 1.82% and BPCL down by 1.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 229.85 points or 1.09% to 21,311.98, Nikkei 225 surged 197.61 points or 0.71% to 27,959.18, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 61.01 points or 0.37% to 16,613.58, Shanghai Composite gained 33.47 points or 1.05% to 3,228.93and KOSPI rose 11.66 points or 0.44% to 2,670.65. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 4.45 points or 0.14% to 3,227.52 and Jakarta Composite lost 118.14 points or 1.64% to 7,064.82.