Benchmarks trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased initial gains to trade flat in morning deals, dragged by Consumer Durables, Metal and Healthcare stocks. Traders turned cautious with Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the current fiscal year (FY23) is now expected to be between 6.5 and 7 per cent. This was for the first time a government official said real economic growth may not exceed 7 per cent this fiscal year.  Since the April-June GDP print, a number of agencies, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Reserve Bank of India, have lowered their GDP forecast for India on the back of uneven pick-up in demand and global headwinds caused by the war in Europe. Some concern also came with private report stating that hiring activity declined 6 per cent year-on-year in October as recruiters adopted a cautious approach in adding new workforce. Meanwhile, amid a slowdown in outbound shipments from India, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal asked exporters to make temporary changes in their pricing structure in order to retain the export market.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as bond yields dropped and most Asian currencies strengthened against the US dollar. Traders also look ahead to a report on US consumer price inflation, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates. Back home, stocks related to chemicals industry remained in watch as the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers said the production of major chemicals rose 7.22 per cent to 32.56 lakh tonnes during the April-June period of this fiscal, as against 30.37 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period, barring pesticides and insecticides.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61171.09, down by 14.06 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 61166.04 and 61447.23. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.75%, FMCG up by 0.58%, Utilities up by 0.44%, Energy up by 0.42% and Power up by 0.40%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.55%, Metal down by 0.48%, Healthcare down by 0.23%, Auto down by 0.09% and Oil & Gas down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.17%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.04%, ITC up by 0.95%, HCL Technologies up by 0.90% and Infosys up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 2.59%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.68%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.72%, Tata Steel down by 0.66% and Titan Company down by 0.58% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) to the government V Anantha Nageswaran has said that India is in a stable economic situation and the growth momentum is good despite the multiple crises taking place simultaneously and getting entangled with each other. He said that the world is passing through a 'polycrisis', which is multiple crises of high inflation, tightening of monetary policy, high interest rates, slowdown in China which affected global supply chain, and the Russia-Ukraine war.

CEA has stated that the challenges that the country is facing are unprecedented since World War II. But India is in a stable situation and the growth momentum is good. India will have a growth rate of 6.5 per cent to seven per cent in 2022-23, which is considered to be good despite a high inflation rate of 7.4 per cent. He also said that what India needs at the moment is to maintain macroeconomic stability, augment foreign exchange reserves and their judicious use, and finance the trade deficit due to high imports of crude oil.

Nageswaran further stated that financing the trade deficit is a challenge for the country caused by high crude imports. The flow of FDI is steady while portfolio investments have become volatile as the USD is becoming attractive due to high interest rates in the United States. He said that although India has become the fifth-largest economy in the world, the country's per capita income needs to increase. He also said there are signs of recovery of employment in the formal sector and there are indications that investments are picking up.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18215.45, up by 12.65 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 18202.70 and 18296.40. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.69%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.56%, Indusind Bank up by 2.32%, Britannia Industries up by 2.13% and Adani Enterprises up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.27%, Divi's Lab down by 3.32%, Power Grid Corp down by 2.65%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.69% and BPCL down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 246.37 points or 1.85% to 13,594.13, KOSPI rose 23.46 points or 0.98% to 2,422.50, Jakarta Composite soared 12.64 points or 0.18% to 7,062.77 and Straits Times advanced 10.42 points or 0.33% to 3,156.25.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 10.83 points or 0.35% to 3,053.66, Nikkei 225 slipped 144.88 points or 0.52% to 27,727.23 and Hang Seng decreased 251.85 points or 1.52% to 16,305.46