Indian bourses continue to trade under pressure

In line with Asian peers, Indian bourses remained under heavy selling pressure in morning session, on the back of sustained selling activities by market-participants. Sentiments remained downbeat as private report projected a sharp moderation in India's growth rate for FY24 to 5.2 percent as compared to FY23, saying Indian policymakers are 'misplaced' about their optimism on the country's growth prospects. Adding more worries, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed that India's foreign exchange reserves fell to $532.66 billion in the week through Sept. 30, their lowest level since July 2020. Traders overlooked Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal’s statement that India will perhaps emerge as the strongest major economy with 7 per cent growth rate in FY23, amid fears of the world slipping into recession. On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower as signs of a strong U.S. labor market and rising oil prices stoked fresh worries about inflation and further rate rises. Geopolitical tensions also returned to the fore after a powerful blast damaged Russia's road-and-rail bridge to Crimea.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57521.23, down by 670.06 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 57365.68 and 57625.06. 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 1.14%, while Small cap index was down by 0.63%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG down by 1.57%, Capital Goods down by 1.49%, Auto down by 1.38%, Power down by 1.34% and Industrials down by 1.29%, while there was no gainer on BSE sectoral front.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 0.73%, TCS up by 0.47% and Power Grid Corp up by 0.29%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.22%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.00%, Asian Paints down by 1.90%, HDFC Bank down by 1.88% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.85% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Secretary T V Somanathan has said that India has a nano demographic window to achieve developed country status, and if it misses, it may not reach there. The country has to grow at a rate of 8-8.5 per cent to reach developed country status.
He mentioned ‘There are two widely held views about India in the next two quarters of the century, we have to grow at 8-8.5 per cent to get there (developed country status) and if we miss this quarter of a century with demographic dividend, we may be doomed to mediocrity forever.’

Besides, he stated in the first decade of this century, China grew at approximately 9.5 per cent per annum and similar growth rates were witnessed in countries like South Korea and Taiwan.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17106.95, down by 207.70 points or 1.20% after trading in a range of 17064.70 and 17149.65. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank up by 0.86%, TCS up by 0.44% and Power Grid Corp up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.82%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.79%, HDFC down by 2.24%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.17% and Divi's Lab down by 2.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading lower; Jakarta Composite lost 44.23 points or 0.63% to 6,982.55, Straits Times trembled 39.08 points or 1.24% to 3,106.73, Shanghai Composite declined 11.81 points or 0.39% to 3,012.58 and Hang Seng decreased 441.73 points or 2.49% to 17,298.32.