Indices trim losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks recovered much of their initial losses but continued to trade in red terrain in morning deals, dragged by losses in IT, Energy and Oil & Gas shares. Traders remained cautious as Moody’s Investors Service has lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India to 7.7 percent for the calendar year 2022 (CY22). The global credit rating agency also lowered India's GDP forecast for CY23 to 5.2 percent from 5.4 percent. Some concern also came with the Reserve Bank data showed India Inc's foreign direct investment in July declined over 50 per cent to $1.11 billion in July 2022. However, losses remain capped as some support came with the National Statistical Office (NSO) stating that the unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas dipped to 7.6 per cent during April-June 2022 from 12.6 per cent a year ago. Meanwhile, the central government's fiscal deficit touched 20.5 per cent of the annual target in the July 2022 quarter against 21.3 per cent a year ago, reflecting improvement in public finance. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors greeted September by selling everything that was not nailed down after a month battered by concerns about aggressive rate hikes from global policymakers.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59249.80, down by 287.27 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 58638.46 and 59309.79. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.57%, while Small cap index was up by 0.64%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.92%, Auto up by 1.15%, Consumer Disc up by 0.75%, Industrials up by 0.72% and Realty up by 0.54%, while IT down by 1.41%, Energy down by 1.17%, Oil & Gas down by 1.13%, Metal down by 1.12% and TECK down by 1.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.13%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.34%, Asian Paints up by 1.71%, Titan Company up by 1.54% and SBI up by 1.49%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.15%, Infosys down by 1.80%, Reliance Industries down by 1.49%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.18% and Nestle down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in its latest data has said that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows into India contracted by 6 per cent to $16.59 billion during the April-June quarter this fiscal. The inflows had stood at $17.56 billion during the corresponding period of the previous year.

It stated the total FDI inflows (which includes equity inflows, re-invested earnings and other capital) aggregated at $22.34 billion during the first three months of the current fiscal year as against $22.52 billion in the year-ago period. Further, it said Singapore emerged as the top investor during April-June period with $5.7 billion FDI. It was followed by Mauritius ($2.4 billion), UAE ($2.2 billion), USA ($1.5 billion), Netherland ($1 billion), and Japan ($851 million).

Moreover, it mentioned the computer software and hardware sector attracted the highest inflows of $3.5 billion during the three-month period of this fiscal. It was followed by services ($2.6 billion), trading ($2 billion), chemicals ($960 million), automobile industry ($691 million) and construction (infrastructure) activities ($680 million).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17686.65, down by 72.65 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 17485.55 and 17695.60. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 3.22%, Tata Consumer Product up by 2.76%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.33%, Eicher Motors up by 1.77% and Asian Paints up by 1.72%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.56%, Hindalco down by 2.40%, TCS down by 2.21%, Infosys down by 1.77% and SBI Life Insurance down by 1.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 455.03 points or 1.62% to 27,636.50, Hang Seng decreased 303.62 points or 1.52% to 19,650.77, Taiwan Weighted dropped 262.66 points or 1.74% to 14,832.78 and KOSPI fell 44.18 points or 1.79% to 2,427.87.

On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 0.41 points or 0.01% to 3,222.08, Jakarta Composite soared 3.66 points or 0.05% to 7,182.25 and Shanghai Composite gained 7.73 points or 0.24% to 3,209.87.