Sensex, Nifty remain below neutral lines

Indian equity benchmarks remained below neutral lines in early afternoon session, on the back of selling at Power and FMCG counters along with negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments remained pessimistic, amid reports that the rupee is likely to remain under pressure next year and could even touch 85 against the US dollar. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and the resultant spike in crude prices and supply chain disruptions, the rupee has been under tremendous pressure. The domestic currency had touched an all-time low of 83 against the dollar on October 19. Traders got worried as the Centre said some states have pulled out of the flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for failure to pay their share of premium subsidy owing to financial constraints. It said it was willing to make additional pro-farmer changes to the scheme in response to the climate crisis.

On the global front, Asian markets ware trading mostly in red, as Singapore's industrial production declined in October, albeit at a slightly slower than expected pace. The data from the Economic Development Board revealed that industrial production declined 0.8 percent year-on-year in October, after a 1.6 percent growth in September. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial production growth eased to 1.9 percent in October from 2.4 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62182.43, down by 90.25 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 62115.66 and 62447.73. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.69%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.99%, Auto up by 0.81%, PSU up by 0.70%, Metal up by 0.69% and Industrials up by 0.67%, while Power down by 0.45%, FMCG down by 0.35%, Bankex down by 0.33%, Utilities down by 0.26% and TECK down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12%, Reliance Industries up by 0.99%, Indusind Bank up by 0.94%, Tata Steel up by 0.85% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.69%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.97%, ICICI Bank down by 0.92%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.73% and Asian Paints down by 0.70% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Crisil ratings in its latest report has said that the Indian hotel industry is likely to witness 23 per cent growth in revenue this fiscal (FY23) over the pre-pandemic level, driven by a strong recovery in business travel and continued traction in leisure travel. Higher average room rates (ARRs) and occupancy will help the hotel industry log a strong improvement in profitability to around 34 per cent this fiscal compared to 24 per cent in the pre-pandemic period (fiscal 2020).

According to the report, leisure travel had gained traction post the Delta wave last fiscal, while business travel has started picking up steadily after a much milder Omicron wave in January 2022. This has been fuelling demand in the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) segment. It believes that improvement in international business travel in the second half of this fiscal will strengthen the industry's performance.

The report further said occupancy will rise to 73 per cent this fiscal (68 per cent in fiscal 2020), while average room rate (ARR) should increase 8-10 per cent. It said that the gap between demand and supply will aid the improvement in ARR. It noted that developers had held back on capex amid the pandemic-induced uncertainties, and while the sharp rebound in demand may spur an increase in capex, supply will take a while to catch up because of the long gestation period for setting up a greenfield hotel that will favour existing hotels.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18471.55, down by 12.55 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 18445.10 and 18533.15. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.83%, Coal India up by 1.68%, Reliance Industries up by 1.15%, Tata Motors up by 1.12% and BPCL up by 1.03%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.50%, ICICI Bank down by 1.01%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.90%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.81% and Apollo Hospital down by 0.80% were the top losers on Nifty.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 100.06 points or 0.35% to 28,283.03, Hang Seng decreased 89.12 points or 0.5% to 17,571.78, Jakarta Composite lost 34.62 points or 0.49% to 7,045.90, Straits Times trembled 11.83 points or 0.36% to 3,241.05, Taiwan Weighted dropped 5.49 points or 0.04% to 14,778.51, KOSPI fell 3.47 points or 0.14% to 2,437.86, while Shanghai Composite gained 12.47 points or 0.4% to 3,101.78.