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

Local equity benchmarks added downward pressure and traded near day’s low points in late afternoon session on account of heavy selling in IT stocks amid rising recession worries in key U.S. markets. The overall market breadth was negative as 2485 shares were declining and 1003 were advancing, while 125 shares were unchanged on the BSE. A level of pressure was seen on broader indices, as the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading with cut of over a percent. Sector wise, infrastructure sector remained in focused, as Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has set a target of constructing 12,200 kilometres of national highways during 2022-23, against which 4,766 kilometres have been constructed till November, 2022.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as traders continue to weigh concerns about rising interest rates and a possible recession against optimism of China's economic reopening. European markets were trading mostly in red as fears that the U.S. economy was heading towards recession overshadowed optimism over China's economic reopening.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61904.45, down by 666.23 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 61897.19 and 62735.42. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 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 1.47%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG was up by 0.09%, while IT down by 3.31%, TECK down by 2.92%, Realty down by 2.54%, Utilities down by 1.66% and Power was down by 1.58% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.69%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.59%, Sun Pharma up by 0.44% and Titan Company up by 0.42%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 7.25%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.67%, Infosys down by 3.58%, Wipro down by 2.86% and TCS down by 2.16% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has set a target of constructing 12,200 kilometres of national highways during 2022-23, against which 4,766 kilometres have been constructed till November, 2022.

The road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said under Bharatmala Pariyojana, apart from development of highways/ expressways in the country, which facilitate logistic efficiency to India economy, 35 Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) are to be developed. These MMLPs would act as major cargo consolidation and distribution hubs.

According to the minister, under Bharatmala Pariyojana 191 points of congestion were identified on the entire network.  He said of the 191 choke points, de-congestion projects have already been completed in 56 congestion points and de-congestion projects are under implementation in 83 congestion points. The work on remaining 52 congestions points will be awarded for construction by the financial year 2024-25. He added that a total 14,32,294 trees have been cut/uprooted to construct national highways in the country during the last three years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18416.25, down by 193.10 points or 1.04% after trading in a range of 18415.10 and 18664.70. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.35%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.52%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.46%, Sun Pharma up by 0.45% and Titan Company up by 0.45%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 7.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.83%, Infosys down by 3.60%, Wipro down by 2.80% and UPL down by 2.45% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Hang Seng increased 450.64 points or 2.32% to 19,900.87, Nikkei 225 surged 326.58 points or 1.18% to 27,901.01, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 152.39 points or 1.05% to 14,705.43, KOSPI rose 17.96 points or 0.76% to 2,389.04, Shanghai Composite gained 9.60 points or 0.3% to 3,206.95 and Straits Times was up by 8.23 points or 0.25% to 3,244.31. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was down by 89.11 points or 1.31% to 6,715.12.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 10.66 points or 0.14% to 7,461.51 and France’s CAC was down by 12.45 points or 0.19% to 6,634.86. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was up by 25.85 points or 0.18% to 14,290.41.