Domestic markets trade deeply in red; Sensex crashes around 1000 points

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening on Monday tracking sell-off in global markets marked by fear of rising interest rates. Markets witnessed bloodbath are trading deeply in red with losses of over one and half a percent each in early deals due to heavy selling in IT, TECK and Metal stocks. Sensex crashed around 1000 points, while Nifty slipped below 17,300 level. Traders were concerned as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves fell $6.687 billion to $564.053 billion in the week ended August 19. In the previous week ended August 12, the reserves declined $2.238 billion to $570.74 billion.

Global cues remained lackluster with all the Asian markets trading lower following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, as traders reacted to US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated remarks at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, which were seen as more hawkish than some had hoped. Powell said he expects to keep rates at higher levels, and that the bank's efforts to combat inflation will cause some pain.

Back home, credit rating agencies stocks were in limelight as capital markets regulator Sebi enhanced disclosure rules for credit rating agencies (CRAs) and put in place a framework for rating withdrawal of perpetual debt securities. In stock specific developments, Rites gained on bagging new order with JV partner worth Rs 361 crore. However, IRCTC sink on withdrawing data monetisation tender. Reliance Industries remained in focus ahead of their 45th Annual General Meeting.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57854.05, down by 979.82 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 57367.47 and 57897.55. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.40%, while Small cap index was down by 1.21%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was FMCG up by 0.02%, while IT down by 3.72%, TECK down by 3.46%, Metal down by 2.31%, Bankex down by 1.82%, Realty down by 1.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 0.97%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.89%, Nestle up by 0.21% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.17%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 5.55%, Infosys down by 4.49%, HCL Tech. down by 4.05%, Wipro down by 3.18% and TCS down by 3.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, ahead of release of Q1FY23 GDP figures, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the Indian economy will grow at 7.4 per cent in this fiscal (FY23) and continue at the same level in the next fiscal as well. She added the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have projected India’s growth to be the fastest for the next two fiscal years, and their estimates are in sync with that of the Reserve Bank of India as well.

She highlighted that the global situation continues to be challenging and it is not the right time to throw caution to the winds as yet. She said the export sector will face difficulties as the global growth slows down and the government will work with such entities facing the headwinds.

Meanwhile, underlining that there is a need for a rigorous debate on freebies, she said that political parties making pre-poll promises should make budgetary provisions for taking care of the expenditures and not push the burden on to other entities. She said power discoms and generating companies have been seen to bear the brunt of such freebies as they get paid in part or in some cases not at all, despite having no role to play in the announcements.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17284.25, down by 274.65 points or 1.56% after trading in a range of 17166.20 and 17293.35. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 0.98%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.86%, Britannia Inds up by 0.63%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.51% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 5.60%, Infosys down by 4.45%, HCL Technologies down by 4.09%, Wipro down by 3.08% and TCS down by 3.00% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 770.50 points or 2.69% to 27,870.88, Straits Times weakened 34.11 points or 1.05% to 3,215.42, Hang Seng declined 145.59 points or 0.72% to 20,024.45, Taiwan Weighted plunged 336.27 points or 2.20% to 14,942.17, KOSPI lost 57.51 points or 2.32% to 2,423.52, Jakarta Composite fell 36.60 points or 0.51% to 7,098.65 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.48 points or 0.14% to 3,231.74.