Bourses continue to trade near neutral line with negative bias

The Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade near neutral line with negative bias in late afternoon session. Traders were seen piling positions in Realty and Telecom sector, while selling was witnessed in Consumer Durables and Auto sector stocks. Traders were cautious after investment through participatory notes (P-notes) in the domestic capital market declined to Rs 75,725 crore at the end of July, the lowest level in nearly two years, mainly in the wake of aggressive rate hikes by the US Fed. This also marks the third consecutive monthly decline in investment numbers. Traders overlooked Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam’s statement that India’s merchandise exports are likely to be around $470-480 billion in the current fiscal against $420 billion in 2021-22. The secretary also said the trade deficit, which crossed $100 billion in the first four months of the current fiscal, will not cross the ‘discomfort level’.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors await news on the next US interest rate hikes. European markets were trading lower with fresh hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official prompting caution.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58988.39, down by 42.91 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 58760.09 and 59170.87. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.29%, while Small cap index was up by 0.66%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.33%, Telecom up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.18%, Industrials up by 0.16% and Basic Materials was up by 0.11%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.49%, Auto down by 0.35%, Oil & Gas down by 0.33%, PSU down by 0.24%, TECK down by 0.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.99%, Indusind Bank up by 1.71%, HDFC up by 0.55%, ICICI Bank up by 0.50% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.30%, SBI down by 1.26%, Titan Company down by 1.17%, Sun Pharma down by 0.77% and TCS down by 0.74% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Highlighting the government’s sustained efforts to attract more private entrepreneurs into mineral exploration, Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi has said that mineral exploration will be carried out without adverse environmental impact through enhanced use of drones and other latest technologies.

Union Minister further highlighted that National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) has been made an autonomous body, in order to give further fillip to mineral exploration. He also said that as result of recent innovative initiatives and amendments in Acts and rules, 190 major mineral blocks have been auctioned during the last seven years.

Pointing out that commercial coal mine auction is a big success, the minister urged the PSUs to start production from allotted coal blocks at the earliest or else the same may be a surrendered to the ministry for re-auctioning. Further, the Minister called upon Geological Survey of India (GSI) to focus on new age minerals’ exploration.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17560.25, down by 17.25 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17499.25 and 17623.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remain unchanged.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 3.05%, NTPC up by 1.80%, Indusind Bank up by 1.62%, ONGC up by 1.31% and Shree Cement up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 1.88%, Adani Ports down by 1.52%, BPCL down by 1.41%, Tata Steel down by 1.39% and SBI down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 234.51 points or 1.2% to 19,268.74, Nikkei 225 slipped 139.28 points or 0.49% to 28,313.47, Shanghai Composite declined 61.02 points or 1.86% to 3,215.20, Taiwan Weighted dropped 26.70 points or 0.18% to 15,069.19 and Straits Times was down by 9.28 points or 0.29% to 3,236.93. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 12.11 points or 0.5% to 2,447.45 and Jakarta Composite was up by 31.44 points or 0.44% to 7,194.71.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 32.77 points or 0.44% to 7,455.34, France’s CAC decreased 5.93 points or 0.09% to 6,356.09 and Germany’s DAX was down by 14.85 points or 0.11% to 13,179.38.