Bourses trim some losses in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks pared some of their losses in late afternoon session. Buying in HCL Tech and Sun Pharma stocks lent some support. Traders took some solace after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said her Budget for the next financial year will be ‘very carefully structured’ to help the economy sustain growth momentum and rein in prices. She identified high energy prices among the biggest problems facing the Indian economy in the near future. However, traders were cautious, as Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped to a five-month high of 7.41 percent in September 2022 mainly due to costlier food items. Traders took note of Global rating agency S&P said India is facing a “mixture of factors that may shake its sovereign credit metrics”. Nevertheless, it conceded that strong economic growth and external balance sheet are expected to offset risks inherent in the growing external headwinds. But if the economy witnesses a prolonged downturn in real and nominal GDP growth, “material downward pressure on the sovereign ratings could emerge, especially if large government deficits are left unchecked.

On the global front, all Asian markets were trading lower and European markets were trading mostly in red as investors awaited U.S. consumer price inflation data later in the day that could offer more clarity on whether the Federal Reserve needs restrictive monetary policy to lower inflation that is at multi-decade highs.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57256.53, down by 369.38 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 57055.75 and 57568.14. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.69%, while Small cap index was down by 0.38%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.21% and Healthcare was up by 0.16%, while Bankex down by 1.13%, Capital Goods down by 1.12%, Industrials down by 0.89%, Consumer Durables down by 0.86%, PSU down by 0.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 3.15%, Sun Pharma up by 1.37%, Nestle up by 0.69%, Reliance Industries up by 0.59% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 6.90%, SBI down by 1.86%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.81%, ICICI Bank down by 1.49% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing a need to transform agriculture to advanced farming and maintain continuity, the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the Agriculture sector is the backbone of the country and the country’s rural economy and agriculture have such strength that the country can easily overcome even the adverse situations, noting that the Indian Agriculture sector has shown this during the Covid pandemic.

Minister further said that today the country is in the first or second place in the world in terms of most of the agricultural produce. Despite this, there are some challenges before the Agriculture sector, therefore the Minister said there is a need to work in this direction to transform agriculture into advanced farming, technology should be used in agriculture and its continuity should be maintained.

Besides, Tomar said that the stronger and more profitable the Agriculture sector is, the stronger the country will be. There is a need to consider the challenges facing Agriculture today. In spite of all the favourable conditions, the area under farming and its profit and loss depend a lot on the nature. He also said that people's curiosity and attachment towards agriculture should increase, agriculture should be attractive for the next generation and farmers can be retained for farming, more work needs to be done in this direction.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17022.15, down by 101.45 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 16956.95 and 17112.35. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 3.08%, Sun Pharma up by 1.37%, Hindalco up by 0.95%, Coal India up by 0.78% and Nestle up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 6.91%, Adani Ports down by 2.23%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.83%, SBI down by 1.82% and SBI Life down by 1.75% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Hang Seng decreased 311.92 points or 1.87% to 16,389.11, Taiwan Weighted dropped 270.51 points or 2.07% to 12,810.73, Nikkei 225 slipped 159.41 points or 0.6% to 26,237.42, KOSPI fell 39.60 points or 1.8% to 2,162.87, Straits Times trembled 37.15 points or 1.2% to 3,046.04, Jakarta Composite lost 28.59 points or 0.41% to 6,880.62 and Shanghai Composite was down by 9.15 points or 0.3% to 3,016.36.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 18.05 points or 0.26% to 6,808.10 and France’s CAC was down by 2.64 points or 0.05% to 5,815.83. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 46.16 points or 0.38% to 12,218.42.