Sensex, Nifty remain under pressure

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious, after Niti Aayog has raised objections to certain provisions pertaining to the proposed DESH bill, which seeks to replace the existing law for special economic zones. In the Union Budget 2022-23, the government had proposed to replace the existing law governing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with a new legislation to enable states to become partners in 'Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs' (DESH). Sentiments also got hit, as the Reserve Bank marginally lowered the country's GDP growth projection for the current fiscal at 6.8 per cent from its earlier estimate of 7 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, as China's exports and imports fell more than expected in November as strict Covid restrictions continued to disrupt supply chains as well as consumption, further darkening the growth outlook for the biggest Asian economy amid signs of an imminent global recession. The data from the General Administration of Customs revealed that Chinese shipments registered an annual decrease of 8.7 percent in November.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62486.78, down by 139.58 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 62404.74 and 62759.97. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.27%, while Small cap index was down by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.91%, FMCG up by 0.85%, Industrials up by 0.46%, Oil & Gas up by 0.41% and Energy up by 0.06%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.99%, Realty down by 0.86%, Utilities down by 0.84%, Auto down by 0.61% and IT down by 0.57% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.89%, Asian Paints up by 1.60%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.33%, ITC up by 0.70% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.16%, NTPC down by 1.68%, HCL Technologies down by 1.24%, Indusind Bank down by 1.20% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Fertilisers Association of India (FAI) has said that the government's fertiliser subsidy will rise to Rs 2.3-2.5 lakh crore in this fiscal (FY23) but the bill may fall by 25 per cent in the 2023-24 financial year with moderation in global prices. FAI expressed concern that the fixed cost of urea has not been increased affecting the viability of urea plants. It also pointed out that the industry is running on a very thin margin, which is hampering new investments in this sector.

The industry body said there is sufficient availability of fertilisers, including urea and DAP, for the ongoing rabi (winter-sown) season. This has helped insulate the farmers from the impact of a steep increase in the cost of all fertilisers due to sharp rise in international prices of fertilisers and raw materials. The fertiliser subsidy stood at Rs 1.62 lakh crore in the previous financial year. It also pointed out that there has been unprecedented international price rises for fertilizers and fertilizer raw materials including natural gas/LNG during the past two years.

On other issues related to the sector, the association said that the viability of the urea industry is affected because of the delay in the approval of minimum fixed cost and non-revision of fixed cost since 2002-03, except nominal increase allowed under Modified NPS-III policy since 2014. Prices of some of the commodities have started coming down in recent months but still remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic period. The international price of DAP (CFR (cost and freight-India)) increased from $555 per tonne for April 2021 to $945 per tonne for July 2022. It has declined to $722 per tonne for October 2022.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18585.60, down by 57.15 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 18564.50 and 18668.30. There were 10 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 2.07%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.75%, Asian Paints up by 1.56%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.35% and ITC up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.28%, NTPC down by 1.66%, Tata Motors down by 1.40%, HCL Technologies down by 1.28% and Hero MotoCorp down by 1.24% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Taiwan Weighted dropped 98.87 points or 0.67% to 14,630.01, Hang Seng decreased 217.94 points or 1.12% to 19,223.24, Jakarta Composite lost 72.82 points or 1.06% to 6,819.75, KOSPI fell 10.35 points or 0.43% to 2,382.81, Straits Times trembled 6.83 points or 0.21% to 3,245.54, Shanghai Composite declined 13.80 points or 0.43% to 3,198.73 and Nikkei 225 slipped 199.47 points or 0.72% to 27,686.40.