Markets fall further; Sensex slips below 57,200 mark

Indian equity benchmarks added losses to fall further in morning session, amid weak global market trends and foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,899.68 crore on Friday, according to data available with BSE. Traders remained cautious as S&P Global Ratings projected India's economic growth at 7.3 percent in the current fiscal with downside risks and said inflation is likely to remain above RBI's upper tolerance threshold of 6 percent till the end of 2022. Traders also took a note of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) report stating that with economic activity still to reach pre-pandemic levels, the RBI may slow down the pace of rate hikes until next year to quell soaring inflation while supporting growth. Traders overlooked the commerce and industry ministry’s statement that the country is on track to attract $100 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the current fiscal on account of economic reforms and ease of doing business in recent years.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower following the negative cues from global markets on Friday, with a sell-off across most sectors amid concerns that aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks around the world to combat inflation will push the global economy into a recession. Back home, agriculture industry stocks remained in watch the agriculture ministry said paddy planting continued to lag behind as sown area under this crop fell 5.51 per cent from last year to 401.56 lakh hectare so far, as sowing of kharif (summer) crops almost comes to an end.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57128.41, down by 970.51 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 57127.99 and 57708.38. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 3.55%, while Small cap index was down by 4.09%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 5.12%, Utilities down by 4.74%, Power down by 4.62%, Realty down by 4.60% and Auto down by 3.85%.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.29%, HCL Technologies up by 0.63% and Infosys up by 0.11%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 7.21%, Tata Steel down by 5.28%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.75% and Titan Company down by 3.19% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the rupee has held back very well against the United States dollar when compared to other currencies. The Minister mentioned ‘If any one currency which has held its own and did not get into fluctuation or volatility as much as other currencies, it is the Indian rupee. We have held back very well.’

Against the backdrop of the rupee dropping to a lifetime low against the greenback, Sitharaman said the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry are keeping a very close watch on the situation.
The rupee breached the 81-mark against the dollar for the first time on September 23, 2022, before settling at 80.98, as the greenback continued to strengthen against all other major currencies following an aggressive rate hike announcement by the US Federal Reserve. Earlier, On July 22, Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das had said that the central bank would continue to engage with the foreign exchange market to ensure that the rupee finds its level.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17013.60, down by 313.75 points or 1.81% after trading in a range of 17003.05 and 17196.40. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.47%, Divi's Lab up by 1.17%, HCL Technologies up by 0.47%, Infosys up by 0.22% and Britannia Industries up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 6.84%, Hindalco down by 6.56%, Tata Motors down by 5.81%, Tata Steel down by 5.27% and Eicher Motors down by 5.04% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng decreased 69.50 points or 0.39% to 17,863.77, Taiwan Weighted dropped 353.19 points or 2.5% to 13,765.19, Nikkei 225 slipped 681.74 points or 2.51% to 26,472.09, KOSPI fell 69.45 points or 3.03% to 2,220.55, Straits Times trembled 35.46 points or 1.1% to 3,191.64, Shanghai Composite declined 3.73 points or 0.12% to 3,084.64 and Jakarta Composite lost 87.59 points or 1.22% to 7,090.99.