Domestic indices trade lower in volatile trade

Indian markets, after a day’s hiatus on account of Muharram, made slightly positive start on Wednesday but soon turned volatile amid weakness in global peers. Markets wipe out initial gains and are trading lower with cut of around 0.35% each in early deals due to selling in IT and TECK stocks. Though, downside remained capped as a private report stated that the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.1% in the current fiscal on the back of steady performance by services, manufacturing and the farm sector. It added that the government investment will play a crucial role in boosting the growth rate. Some support also came in as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated measures to promote the rupee as a preferred currency for international trade settlement, which will boost exports. Besides, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said negotiations between India and the UK for a FTA is moving at a fast pace, allaying concerns that the evolving political situation in Britain may slow down the pace of talks.

Most of the Asian markets are trading lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. Traders were cautious ahead of the release of crucial U.S. inflation data later in the day, which could impact the outlook for interest rates. The rising geopolitical worry amid the face-off between the U.S. and China over Taiwan also continues to weigh on market sentiment. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan said producer prices in Japan were up 0.4 percent on month in July.

Back home, the insurance industry stocks were in focus with Irdai data showing that new business premiums (NBP) of life insurance companies jumped 91 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in July, thanks to strong premium growth of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). According to data released by the Irdai, life insurers reported NBP of Rs 39,078.90 crore in July. In stock specific development, Bharti Airtel gained after it reported a five-fold jump in consolidated net profit year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1,607 crore in Q1FY23. On the other hand, Delhivery shed after its net loss widened to Rs 399 crore in Q1FY23.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58653.93, down by 199.14 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 58633.05 and 58984.32. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.10%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.30% and Healthcare up by 0.22%, while IT down by 1.40%, TECK down by 1.19%, PSU down by 0.55%, Telecom down by 0.54%, Consumer Durables down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.76%, ICICI Bank up by 1.30%, Nestle up by 0.70%, Power Grid up by 0.68% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.56%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.64%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.10%, Wipro down by 2.00%, Infosys down by 1.59% and HCL Technologies down by 1.57% were the top losers.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17464.30, down by 60.80 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 17464.30 and 17566.10. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 1.80%, ICICI Bank up by 1.26%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.16%, Nestle up by 1.03% and UPL up by 1.00%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.70%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.21%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.07%, Wipro down by 2.05% and Infosys down by 1.61% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 214.72 points or 0.77% to 27,785.24, Hang Seng plunged 421.16 points or 2.11% to 19,582.28, Taiwan Weighted dropped 99.19 points or 0.66% to 14,951.09, KOSPI fell 17.29 points or 0.69% to 2,486.17, Jakarta Composite lost 60.66 points or 0.85% to 7,042.22 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.05 points or 0.37% to 3,235.38, while Straits Times was up by 13.99 points or 0.43% to 3,284.97.