Weak trade persists over Dalal Street

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in red, on the back of mixed cues from other Asian markets. Traders remained cautious, amid reports that a slowing global economy with many countries headed to a recession, debt crisis, millions slipping back into poverty due to Covid-19, climate crises, breakdown of supply chains due to the war in Europe, and the geopolitical upheavals caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine -- these are the major challenges that G20 nations will look to find consensus on under India’s leadership. Besides, another private report stated that About 58 per cent healthcare industry professionals globally believe that digital transformation initiatives would be slowed down due to inflation and rising costs.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after China consumer price inflation slowed more than expected in October on weaker demand and producer prices declined for the first time since December 2020. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that consumer prices grew 2.1 percent in October from the same period last year. This was slower than the 2.8 percent increase posted in September and also forecast of 2.4 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61123.40, down by 61.75 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 61065.34 and 61447.23. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.14%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.49%, Energy up by 0.43%, Utilities up by 0.25%, FMCG up by 0.22% and Telecom up by 0.17%, while Healthcare down by 0.68%, Metal down by 0.43%, Consumer Durables down by 0.32%, Capital Goods down by 0.30% and Auto down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.30%, Indusind Bank up by 1.00%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.97%, HCL Technologies up by 0.96% and Infosys up by 0.62%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 3.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.72%, NTPC down by 1.05%, Sun Pharma down by 1.02% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.93% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, urging Indian industry to support each other to create synergies and promote growth in a spirit of nationalism, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has exhorted the export promotion bodies to give an active push to exports and maintain the momentum of healthy growth recorded in the previous year.

The Minister further asked the various sectoral leaders to utilize the disruptions in the global trade in their favor by occupying the space yielded by some countries. He told industry to strive to retain export markets even if they are to make temporary changes in their pricing structure to accommodate short term challenges. Besides, Goyal encouraged exporters to explore unique products with good export potential such as castor and instructed officials of the Ministry to act proactively to promote these products.

The Commerce Minister also asked officials to analyze export data on the basis of sectors, commodities and markets to find out areas of opportunity for Indian exports. The Minister called for open channels of communication between export promotion bodies and industry bodies with the government so that issues being faced may be flagged and resolved at the earliest.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18185.90, down by 16.90 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 18174.20 and 18296.40. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.94%, Coal India up by 3.33%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.78%, Britannia Industries up by 1.35% and Indusind Bank up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 4.26%, Divi's Laboratories down by 3.84%, Power Grid down by 3.14%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.67% and Grasim Industries down by 1.45% were the top losers on Nifty.

Asian markets were trading mixed; KOSPI rose 25.37 points or 1.06% to 2,424.41, Straits Times advanced 11.50 points or 0.37% to 3,157.33, Jakarta Composite soared 12.64 points or 0.18% to 7,062.77 and Taiwan Weighted strengthened 291.05 points or 2.18% to 13,638.81, while Shanghai Composite declined 15.21 points or 0.5% to 3,049.28, Nikkei 225 slipped 155.68 points or 0.56% to 27,716.43 and Hang Seng decreased 269.16 points or 1.63% to 16,288.15.