Bourses trade near day’s low points in late afternoon session

Pressurized by feeble global cues, Indian equity markets traded near day’s low points in late afternoon session. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were trading with cut of above a percent. The overall market breadth was negative as 2308 shares were declining and 1114 were advancing, while 131 shares were unchanged on the BSE. Selling in auto and Consumer Durables counters pulled down the markets lower. Traders failed to take support, as India-US CEO forum  discussed ways to further strengthen economic ties between the two countries. It was chaired jointly by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Gina Raimondo, US Secretary of Commerce. In the meeting, Goyal highlighted the significant growth of the India-US economic relations, driven by the common interest of promoting sustainability, emerging technologies, globally resilient supply chains and small businesses.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as a surge in COVID-19 cases spurred lockdowns in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou and uncertainty continued over the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections. European markets were trading mostly in red with real estate stocks leading declines, ahead of a closely watched reading on U.S. inflation to determine whether the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy has taken hold.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60516.03, down by 517.52 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 60429.68 and 60848.73. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.24%, while Small cap index was down by 1.24%.

The losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 2.16%, Consumer Durables down by 1.74%, PSU down by 1.34%, Healthcare down by 1.01%, Energy down by 0.93%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.60%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.50% and HDFC Bank up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.13%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.11%, Axis Bank down by 2.99%, Titan Company down by 2.91% and Power Grid down by 2.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that premium hotel inventory is likely to increase 3.5-4 per cent in the current fiscal (FY23) with an addition of around 15,500 rooms amid recovery in demand. It also said the demand recovery has been better than expected in the last few months, aided by domestic leisure travel, pent-up demand from meetings, incentives, conference and events, including weddings, and gradual recovery in business travel and foreign tourist arrivals.

According to the report, the healthy demand uptick has resulted in a pick-up in new supply announcements over the last 4-5 months. Further, construction activity in projects stalled post Covid has also commenced recently. However, it said the hotel supply pipeline is expected to grow only at a 5-year CAGR of 3.5-4 per cent, adding approximately 15,500 rooms to the pan-India premium inventory of 94,800 rooms across 12 key cities in India. It stated that the current inventory growth is significantly lower than the growth of approximately 18 per cent witnessed during FY 2009-2013 period after the global financial crisis.

The report further said pan-India premium hotel occupancy is expected to be 68-70 per cent while the average room rate is projected to hover around Rs 5,600-5,800 this fiscal. It noted that till October 2022, occupancy stood at 62-64 per cent while the average room rate for the first seven months of FY23 was only at an 8-10 per cent discount to pre-Covid levels and stood at Rs 5,000-5,200. It added that the improved operating leverage along with the sustenance of cost-optimisation measures will support margins and cash flows for hotel companies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17987.15, down by 169.85 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 17973.65 and 18103.10. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.07%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.61%, ONGC up by 0.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.42% and Adani Ports up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.76%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.30%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.12%, Axis Bank down by 3.07% and Titan Company down by 3.01% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Hang Seng decreased 277.48 points or 1.7% to 16,081.04, Nikkei 225 slipped 270.33 points or 0.98% to 27,446.10, Taiwan Weighted dropped 135.05 points or 0.99% to 13,503.76, Jakarta Composite lost 103.24 points or 1.46% to 6,966.84, KOSPI fell 22.18 points or 0.91% to 2,402.23 and Shanghai Composite was down by 12.04 points or 0.39% to 3,036.13. On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 9.63 points or 0.3% to 3,175.13.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 13.32 points or 0.21% to 6,417.25 and Germany’s DAX was down by 17.51 points or 0.13% to 13,648.81. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was up by1.93 points or 0.03% to 7,298.18.