Domestic indices trade flat with negative bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Wednesday tracking weak global cues. Markets are trading flat with negative bias in early deals on account of selling in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Teck stocks. Investors remained on sidelines ahead of the US Fed policy outcome later in the day. Some cautiousness came in as a private report stated that market borrowing cost for the states remained high with the average yield hitting 7.83 per cent at the auctions held on Tuesday, which is a paltry 1 basis points lower than the last auction of state securities. Traders took note of latest data released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) that after the unemployment rate fell to a four year low in September, it rose to a four month high of 7.77 per cent in October. Though, down side remained capped as the government collected Rs 1.52 trillion as goods and services tax (GST) in October, a 16.6 per cent rise year-on-year, driven by festival-related spending, higher tax rates, and better compliance. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 2,609.94 crore on November 1, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious and are consolidating their position ahead of the US Fed's monetary policy announcement later in the day. A weak U.S. dollar and lower bond yields contributed aided market sentiment. Back home, textile industry stocks were in focus as Union minister Piyush Goyal said the government is considering the second phase of the Production Linked Incentive scheme for the textile sector to help the industry compete with top exporting countries like China and Vietnam. In stock specific development, ONGC, BPCL, HPCL and IOC were trading higher after the government slashed the windfall tax on crude oil and raised the special additional excise duty on the export of aviation turbine fuel.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61,085.88, down by 35.47 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 60,965.58 and 61,209.65. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.53%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.34%, Healthcare up by 1.08%, FMCG up by 0.53%, Commodities up by 0.51% and Industrials up by 0.30%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.74%, Telecom down by 0.72%, Teck down by 0.70%, Auto down by 0.60% and IT was down by 0.37% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.60%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.18%, ITC up by 1.40%, Tata Steel up by 1.19% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.00%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.15%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.53%, Titan down by 1.53%, Infosys down by 1.20% and TCS down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India will press for collective efforts to deal with the spillovers of happenings in advanced economies as well as global regulation of crypto assets to check terror funding under its G20 presidency. She outlined eight priority areas, including reforms in multilateral institutions and food and energy security, for discussion under its G20 presidency which will begin from December 1. India will take over the presidency of G20, which is a grouping of 20 developed and developing nations, from Indonesia.

India is taking over the presidency at a crucial juncture when the world is facing multiple headwinds on account of the Russia-Ukraine war, increasing crude oil prices, rising interest rates and slowdown in global demand. Sitharaman said ‘We are probably at a very comfortable stage in the sense of comparing with other economies, our macroeconomic fundamentals are fine’, and added that emerging markets always face the collateral and unintended spillovers of happenings in the developed countries. She said at the G20 forum India is constantly maintaining its position and voicing the concerns of emerging markets and low- and middle-income countries.

Talking about to issues associated with crypto assets, the finance minister said there is a need for global regulation to prevent their misuse for terror funding and money laundering. She said ‘…how crypto assets can be regulated with all countries on board because no one single country can succeed individually, being in a silo and trying to regulate the crypto assets’. She said concerted action is required so that the money trail is established and unregulated crypto assets are not used for drug funding, terror funding or gaming the system. She added that various international bodies are working on regulations for crypto assets and those have to brought on the table for a meaningful discussion at the G20.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18,137.65, down by 7.75 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 18,101.85 and 18,178.75. There were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.49%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.21%, Sun Pharma up by 1.96%, ITC up by 1.29% and Tata Steel up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.10%, Eicher Motors down by 1.39%, Apollo Hospitals down by 1.36%, Titan down by 1.27% and Maruti Suzuki down by1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 declined 37.99 points or 0.14% to 27,640.93, Straits Times fell 8.87 points or 0.28% to 3,121.63, KOSPI lost 3.06 points or 0.13% to 2,332.16 and Jakarta Composite was down by 29.51 points or 0.42% to 7,022.79. On the other hand, Hang Seng surged 305.01 points or 1.97% to 15,760.28, Taiwan Weighted added 32.63 points or 0.25% to 13,069.84 and Shanghai Composite was up by 26.06 points or 0.88% to 2,995.26.