Sensex, Nifty witness sharp fall in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks witnessed sharp fall in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading over a percent lower, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Heavy selling at realty and telecom counters hit the markets. Sentiments were negative, as road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the total outstanding debt of state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stood at around Rs 3.49 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022. He noted that the fund required by NHAI for debt servicing in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be Rs 31,282 crore, Rs 31,909 crore and Rs 30,552 crore, respectively. Besides, The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued 24 notices for unfair trade practices against e-commerce companies.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after the private sector in Hong Kong continued to expand in July, albeit at a fractionally slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 52.3. That's down from 52.4 in June although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Back home, auto stocks were in focus, as automobile retail sales in India dropped 8 per cent on an annual basis in July on account of fall in registrations of passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and tractors. As per data released by the automobile dealers' body FADA on Thursday, the overall automobile retail sales last month stood at 14,36,927 units, as compared with 15,59,106 units in July 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57734.12, down by 616.41 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 57577.05 and 58712.66. 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 1.10%, while Small cap index was down by 0.87%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.39% and Healthcare up by 0.08%, while Realty down by 2.41%, Telecom down by 2.35%, PSU down by 1.82%, Bankex down by 1.70% and Utilities down by 1.64% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.28%, Infosys up by 0.87%, Sun Pharma up by 0.12% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.12%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.00%, SBI down by 2.69%, Reliance Industries down by 2.36%, Axis Bank down by 2.18% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the total outstanding debt of state-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stood at around Rs 3.49 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022. He noted that the fund required by NHAI for debt servicing in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be Rs 31,282 crore, Rs 31,909 crore and Rs 30,552 crore, respectively.

Gadkari said the monetisation plan of operational highway stretches -- which have the largest share of Rs 1.6 lakh crore of the total asset monetisation plan of Rs 6 lakh crore over a period of four years, i.e. FY22 to FY25, as per the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) announced recently by the Centre -- includes 26,700 km of highways of four lanes. Till date, NHAI has monetised 26 stretches under toll-operate-transfer (TOT) and InvIT modes of monetisation.

According to the minister, the total budgetary outlay of the road ministry under BE 2022-23 is Rs 1,99,107.71 crore. In addition, he said NHAI envisages raising of Rs 15,000 crore from SPV and Rs 30,000 crore is investment envisaged from private sector participation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17200.35, down by 187.80 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 17161.25 and 17490.70. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 1.85%, JSW Steel up by 1.47%, Nestle up by 1.42%, Cipla up by 1.27% and Infosys up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 3.70%, NTPC down by 2.88%, SBI down by 2.69%, Coal India down by 2.59% and Reliance Industries down by 2.46% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 179.72 points or 0.65% to 27,921.62, Hang Seng increased 324.82 points or 1.64% to 20,091.91, Jakarta Composite soared 20.33 points or 0.29% to 7,066.97, KOSPI rose 12.48 points or 0.51% to 2,473.93, Shanghai Composite gained 4.72 points or 0.15% to 3,168.39 and Straits Times advanced 12.13 points or 0.37% to 3,264.19. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted dropped 74.82 points or 0.51% to 14,702.20.