Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in red in morning deals, mirroring weak global cues. Traders remained cautious as provisional data available on the NSE showed foreign institutional investors have net sold shares worth Rs 386.06 crore on November 16, 2022. However, losses remain capped as traders took some support with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that despite challenges, the Indian banking sector has been resilient and improved in various performance parameters. At the same time though, he asked public as well as private sector banks to remain watchful of the evolving macroeconomic situation and take necessary mitigating measures to minimise their impact on balance sheets and contain financial stability risks. Traders also took note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India will be launching negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with a region next week. He said that negotiations are going on with countries, including the UK, European Union, Canada and Israel

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red after a blast in Poland that Ukraine and Polish authorities said was caused by a Russian-made missile. Back home, airline industry stocks remained in watch amid report that the government will increase the regional air connectivity levy charged from airlines operating on major routes to Rs 10,000 per departure from January 1, a move that could push the airfares higher.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61902.75, down by 77.97 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 61768.96 and 62050.80. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.29%, while Small cap index was down by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.19%, Industrials up by 0.67%, Telecom up by 0.33% and FMCG up by 0.02%, while Metal down by 1.31%, Consumer Durables down by 1.13%, Auto down by 0.84%, IT down by 0.59% and Healthcare down by 0.52% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.25%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.51%, ICICI Bank up by 0.49% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 1.76%, Tata Steel down by 1.36%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.36%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.01% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.91% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has stated that India's exports to the UAE, with which a free trade agreement was implemented on May 1, rose by 17.6 per cent to about USD 18 billion during April-October this fiscal (FY23). However, exports in October dipped by 18 per cent to about USD 2 billion.

It mentioned Imports during April-October of FY23, on the other hand, increased by 33 per cent to USD 32.3 billion from the UAE. Further, imports from China during the same period grew by 18 per cent to USD 60.3 billion, while India's exports to China declined by 37.3 per cent to 8.8 billion.

Exports to India's major destinations, such as the US, UAE, China, Bangladesh, UK and Saudi Arabia, have recorded negative growth in October. On the other hand, exports registered positive growth in the Netherlands, Singapore and Brazil during the month. In April-October this fiscal, exports to the US rose by 8.4 per cent to USD 47 billion. Similarly, the outbound shipments to the UK during same period of the fiscal have increased by 8.3 per cent to USD 6.5 billion. This data is collated by the ministry's Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics based on quick estimates.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18373.35, down by 36.30 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 18351.70 and 18417.60. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.31%, Tata Consumer Product up by 1.15%, Hero MotoCorp up by 0.81%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.64% and Cipla up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.07%, Tata Motors down by 1.98%, Titan Company down by 1.90%, Grasim Industries down by 1.46% and Tata Steel down by 1.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 461.96 points or 2.53% to 17,794.52, Nikkei 225 slipped 105.91 points or 0.38% to 27,922.39, Shanghai Composite declined 31.09 points or 1% to 3,088.89, KOSPI fell 29.40 points or 1.19% to 2,448.05 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 3.76 points or 0.03% to 14,533.59.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 2.89 points or 0.04% to 7,017.27 and Straits Times advanced 3.12 points or 0.1% to 3,269.29.