Bourses continue to trade with hefty losses in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade with hefty losses in late afternoon session mainly dragged by selling in Realty and banking stocks. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading deep in red. Traders were cautious after all-India Consumer Price Index Number for Agricultural Labourersand Rural Labourers (Base: 1986-87=100) for the month of July, 2022 increased by 6 points each to stand at 1131 and 1143 points respectively. The major contribution towards the rise in general index of Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers came from food group to the extent of 4.41 & 4.07 points respectively mainly due to increase in prices ofrice, wheat-atta, bajra, pulses, milk, fishfresh, onion, chillies green/dry, ginger, mixed spices, vegetables & fruits,tea readymade, etc. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red after Wall Street rose as investors analyzed conflicting economic signals ahead of a Federal Reserve conference next week. European markets were trading lower as investors fretted about soaring inflation, tightening monetary policy, and slowing growth.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59676.45, down by 621.55 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 59474.57 and 60411.20. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.85%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.72%, Utilities up by 0.64%, Capital Goods up by 0.32%, TECK up by 0.26% and Telecom was up by 0.25%, while Realty down by 2.54%, PSU down by 1.61%, Bankex down by 1.57%, Metal down by 1.55% and Auto was down by 1.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.07%, Infosys up by 0.80%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.08%, TCS up by 0.06% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.04%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.55%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.63%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.25%, SBI down by 2.14% and NTPC down by 2.05% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to guard domestic players from cheap imports from the neighbouring country, the commerce ministry has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on Chinese ofloxacin -- a medicine used to treat certain infections -- for five years, after concluding in its probe that the product has been exported at dumped prices into India, which impacted the domestic industry.

The commerce ministry's arm DGTR (Directorate General of Trade Remedies) had conducted the probe following a complaint from Aarti Drugs about the dumping and initiation of the investigation. The recommended duty ranges between $0.53 per kilogram and $7.03 per kilogram. The finance ministry takes the final call to impose these duties.

The imposition of anti-dumping duty is permissible under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17763.40, down by 193.10 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 17710.75 and 17992.20. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports up by 5.26%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.03%, Infosys up by 0.76%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.10% and TCS up by 0.08%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.56%, Apollo Hospital down by 2.83%, Tata Motors down by 2.79%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.62% and Tata Consumer down by 2.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red, Straits Times trembled 28.56 points or 0.87% to 3,244.92, Shanghai Composite declined 19.46 points or 0.59% to 3,258.08, KOSPI fell 15.36 points or 0.61% to 2,492.69, Jakarta Composite lost 14.13 points or 0.2% to 7,172.43 and Nikkei 225 was down by 11.81 points or 0.04% to 28,930.33. On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 9.12 points or 0.05% to 19,773.03 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 12.02 points or 0.08% to 15,408.78.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 26.58 points or 0.35% to 7,515.27, France’s CAC decreased 45.13 points or 0.69% to 6,512.27 and Germany’s DAX was down by 132.68 points or 0.97% to 13,564.73.