Indices trade lower in early deals; Wipro plunges over 5%

Indian equity benchmarks after a day’s halt once again came under grip of bears with negative opening on Thursday following lackluster trade in global peers. Markets are trading lower in early deals as weak set of macro-economic data dampened sentiments. India's retail inflation spiked to 7.41% in September, mainly due to costlier food items. For the ninth month in a row, retail inflation has remained above the Reserve Bank of India's tolerance level of 6%. Also, India's industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slid to an 18-month low of -0.8% in August from 2.2% in July. Adding more pessimism, rating agency Crisil's research wing said India Inc is expected to report a three per cent year-on-year decline in profits for the July-September period. It added that this fall in profitability will be the fourth straight quarter of the decline in profits for the listed companies.

Most of the Asian markets are trading lower following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders are cautious as they reacted to the US Fed's minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting and await the data on U.S. consumer price inflation later in the day. The heightened concerns of Russia escalating its war in Ukraine and the tightening COVID curbs in China also weighed on sentiment.

Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said the validity for export of raw sugar to the US under Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) has been extended from September 30, 2022 to December 31, 2022. In stock specific development, Wipro plunged after it forecast smaller sequential revenue growth for the December quarter. However, HCL Technologies jumped after raising its 2023 revenue growth target.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57408.62, down by 217.29 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 57360.79 and 57568.14. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.31%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.48%, Healthcare up by 0.40%, Metal up by 0.38%, while IT down by 0.80%, TECK down by 0.66%, Realty down by 0.64%, Telecom down by 0.61%, Oil & Gas down by 0.56% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.47%, Sun Pharma up by 1.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.68% and NTPC up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 5.55%, TCS down by 1.23%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.05%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.90% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s industrial production growth, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slipped to an 18-month low, contracting by 0.8 per cent in August, mainly due to a decline in output of the manufacturing and mining sectors. The previous low in industrial output growth was a contraction of 3.2 per cent in February 2021. Factory output, measured in terms of the IIP, had expanded by 13 per cent in August 2021. The IIP grew by 2.2 per cent in July this year. The data released by the Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry showed that for the month of August 2022, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 131.3. During April-August this year, IIP rose 7.7 per cent against 29 per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

As per the data, the manufacturing sector shrank by 0.7 per cent in August 2022 compared to the 11.1 per cent growth recorded in the year-ago period. The power sector showed a growth of 1.4 per cent against a 16 per cent rise a year ago. The mining sector witnessed a contraction of 3.9 per cent in August 2022, whereas there was a growth of 23.3 per cent in the year-ago period. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of August 2022 stand at 99.6, 131.0 and 191.3 respectively.

Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investments, rose five per cent in August 2022 compared to 20 per cent growth in the year-ago month. The consumer durables segment declined 2.5 per cent from 11.1 per cent growth a year ago. The primary goods segment, which accounts for nearly 34 per cent of the index, expanded 1.7 per cent in August compared to 16.9 per cent growth in the year-ago period. The ministry said the growth rates over the corresponding period of the previous year are to be interpreted, considering the unusual circumstances on account of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17075.45, down by 48.15 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 17051.55 and 17112.35. There were 17 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.67%, Hindalco up by 1.95%, Eicher Motors up by 1.54%, Cipla up by 1.34% and Coal India up by 1.23%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 5.61%, ONGC down by 1.52%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.21%, TCS down by 1.18% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 declined 130.88 points or 0.50% to 26,265.95, Straits Times fell 36.54 points or 1.19% to 3,046.65, Hang Seng slipped 165.93 points or 0.99% to 16,535.10, Taiwan Weighted lost 163.57 points or 1.25% to 12,917.67 and KOSPI was down by 25.18 points or 1.14% to 2,177.29. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite rose 8.30 points or 0.12% to 6,917.51 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.92 points or 0.16% to 3,030.43.