Sensex, Nifty cut some gains in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks cut some of their gains in late morning session but remained in green, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Gains got trimmed, as traders got cautious amid a private report stating that India’s central bank is expected to increase its policy rate by half a point for the third time in a row as the currency’s plunge to a record low this month complicates the battle against inflation.

The street was taking a note of reports that the Centre is in “mission mode” to fill vacancies in government departments and ministries. The Department of Expenditure is currently following up with other wings of the government to expedite pending appointments. Regular follow-ups are being made to fill the vacant positions, so that the stated target of eliminating 1 million vacancies is met by December 2023, ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after Malaysia's producer price inflation eased for the third straight month in August to reach its lowest level in nearly one-and-a-half years. The figures from the Department of Statistics showed that producer prices climbed 6.8 percent year-over-year in August, slower than the 7.6 increase in July. Prices have been increasing since February 2021.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56792.18, up by 193.90 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 56782.03 and 57166.14. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.28%, while Small cap index was up by 0.92%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.98%, Healthcare up by 1.44%, FMCG up by 1.23%, Utilities up by 1.17% and Power up by 1.12%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.22% and IT down by 0.06% were the only losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.00%, ITC up by 2.85%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.45%, Tata Steel up by 2.10% and NTPC up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.67%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.84%, Titan Co down by 0.82%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.76% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has proposed additional customs duties of 15 per cent on the import of 22 products, including whiskey, cheese and diesel engine parts, from the UK in retaliation to Britain's decision to impose restrictions on steel products. In a communication to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India said it is estimated that the safeguard measures taken by the UK on steel products have resulted in the decline of exports to the tune of 2,19,000 tonnes on which the duty collection would be $247.7 million. Accordingly, it said India's proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the UK.

India hereby notifies the (WTO's) Council for Trade in Goods of its decision to suspend concessions or other obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards that are substantially equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the measures of the UK. The other products include processed cheese, scotch, blended whiskey, gin, animal feed, liquified propane, some essential oils, beauty preparations, cosmetic and toilet preparations, unsorted diamonds, silver, platinum, semi-diesel engine parts, unwrought gold, turbo jets, and certain electric conductors. India's average imports of semi-manufactured silver from the UK stood at $412.68 million. The figure stood at $ 275.22 million for certain silver goods and $ 51.03 million for blended whiskey.

The communication also said that the proposed suspension of concessions would be in the form of an increase in duty on the selected products originating in the UK. The suspension of concessions and other obligations will continue to apply until the safeguard measures of the UK are lifted. India wishes to clarify that suspension of concessions will be equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the UKs' measures. The measures imposed by the UK consist of tariff-rate quotas imposed on 15 steel product categories with an out-of-quota duty of 25 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16924.35, up by 65.75 points or 0.39% after trading in a range of 16922.30 and 17026.05. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.14%, Sun Pharma up by 2.99%, ONGC up by 2.86%, ITC up by 2.82% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.44%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.81%, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.90%, Titan Co down by 0.89%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.89% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 261.19 points or 1.00% to 26,435.17, Hang Seng increased 106.64 points or 0.62% to 17,357.52, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 68.19 points or 0.51% to 13,534.26, KOSPI rose 26.39 points or 1.22% to 2,195.68, Straits Times advanced 31.17 points or 1% to 3,147.48 and Shanghai Composite gained 2.07 points or 0.07% to 3,047.14. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 7.16 points or 0.1% to 7,069.87.