Sensex, Nifty trade higher in volatile session

In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher during early afternoon deals, supported by buying in IT, Industrials and TECK stocks, despite negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders got support with reports that States got some reprieve in their debt cost with the weighted average price falling by 12 bps to 7.67 per cent due to receding appetite from issuers as they received tax payouts from the Centre last week. Some relief came with a private report stating that India’s IT and business services market grew 7.4 per cent in the first half of 2022, compared to 6.4 per cent in the same period a year ago and helped by enterprises investing in digital transformation.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the value of core machine orders in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 4.6 percent on month in September, coming in at 868.0 billion yen. That was shy of forecasts for an increase of 0.7 percent following the 5.8 percent contraction in August. On a yearly basis, core machine orders rose 2.9 percent - again missing expectations for a gain of 7.4 percent and down from 9.7 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61964.75, up by 91.76 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 61708.63 and 62052.57. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.38%, while Small cap index was up by 0.02%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.48%, Industrials up by 0.47%, TECK up by 0.41%, Capital Goods up by 0.30% and Bankex up by 0.28%, while Metal down by 1.13%, Utilities down by 0.93%, Power down by 0.81%, Realty down by 0.76% and Healthcare down by 0.57% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.22%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.08%, Wipro up by 1.02%, TCS up by 0.78% and Infosys up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.49%, Tata Steel down by 1.43%, NTPC down by 1.22%, Indusind Bank down by 1.14% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Credit rating agency ICRA’s Senior Vice-President & Group Head, Corporate Sector, Jayanta Roy has said that after a challenging September quarter, the profitability of domestic steel makers is expected to improve in the October-December quarter (Q3FY23) given lower coking coal costs, and an expected pick-up in capacity utilisation rates on the back of better domestic demand conditions.

Roy said that the financial performance of Indian steel companies in Q2FY23 has been adversely impacted by falling steel prices on one hand, and high raw material prices, especially coking coal, on the other. In the July-September 2022, the top five steel makers of India -- which control about 60 per cent market -- have either reported loss or have posted sharp fall in their net profits citing adverse market conditions.

Kaustubh Chaubal, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance at Moody's Investors Service said leading steelmakers reported dampened earnings for a seasonally weak July-September period, amid elevated input and other costs and a steep decline in steel prices. He said even so, India remains a bright spot in the region, with a high-single-digit percentage growth in steel consumption over the next 12 months supported by demand for autos and continued infrastructure spending by the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18412.10, up by 8.70 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 18354.70 and 18442.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.26%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.24%, Eicher Motors up by 1.01%, Coal India up by 0.97% and Wipro up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.92%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.77%, JSW Steel down by 1.65%, Tata Steel down by 1.43% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.42% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 2.88 points or 0.12% to 2,477.45, Shanghai Composite declined 14.89 points or 0.48% to 3,119.19, Jakarta Composite lost 45.02 points or 0.64% to 6,990.48, Taiwan Weighted dropped 8.96 points or 0.06% to 14,537.35 and Hang Seng decreased 191.14 points or 1.04% to 18,151.98, while Nikkei 225 surged 38.13 points or 0.14% to 28,028.30 and Straits Times advanced 5.30 points or 0.16% to 3,280.58.