Benchmarks trim opening losses to trade marginally in red in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Monday amid largely negative cues from global markets. Soon, markets managed to trim most of their losses and are trading marginally in red in early deals. Market participants remained on sidelines ahead of the country’s November retail inflation data, October’s industrial production (IIP) data to be released later in the day. Foreign fund outflows dented sentiments in the markets. Foreign institutional investors sold a net of Rs 158.01 crore equities on Friday as per provisional NSE data. Though, downside remained capped as traders took some support with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) statistical supplement showing that India's foreign exchange reserves rose for a fourth week to an over three-month high of $561.16 billion in the week through December 2. Meanwhile, the sixth round of negotiations between senior officials of India and the UK for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) will begin on December 12 with an aim to conclude the talks at the earliest.

Most of the Asian markets are trading lower after a measure of U.S. consumer sentiment exceeded expectations in December and producer price data for November indicated that inflation is stickier than most assume, complicating the Fed's task to slow the pace of its rapid interest-rate hikes. Back home, aviation industry stocks were in focus as IATA chief Willie Walsh said the Indian civil aviation market has exciting and significant opportunities but taxation has always been an issue which also makes the industry less competitive. In stock specific developments, Jaiprakash Associates soared as the board will mull over sale of their Nilgrie cement unit in Madhya Pradesh. However, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals declined after the USFDA issued warning letter to the drugmaker's Goa-based facility for manufacturing lapses.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62105.98, down by 75.69 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 61676.15 and 62108.88. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.21%, Industrials up by 0.17%, PSU up by 0.13%, Oil & Gas up by 0.13%, Capital Goods up by 0.02%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.95%, Metal down by 0.55%, Power down by 0.38%, Utilities down by 0.32%, Healthcare down by 0.28% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 0.95%, Indusind Bank up by 0.83%, Nestle up by 0.81%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.80% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.68%, Titan Company down by 1.21%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.99%, Sun Pharma down by 0.82% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the data provided by commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal showed that the trade deficit, difference between import and exports, between India and China has touched $51.5 billion during April-October this fiscal. The deficit during 2021-22 had jumped to $73.31 billion as compared to $44.03 billion in 2020-21. According to the data, imports during April-October this fiscal stood at $60.27 billion, while exports aggregated at $8.77 billion.

Goyal said that the merchandise exports from India to China have increased from $11.93 billion in 2014-15 to $21.26 billion in 2021-22, showing an increase of 78.2 per cent over the last six years. On the other hand, imports from China have increased from $60.41 billion in 2014-15 to $94.57 billion in 2021-22. He noted that the trade deficit with China in 2004-05 was $1.48 billion, which increased to $36.21 billion in 2013-14, an increase of 2,346 per cent. He added that against this massive increase, the trade deficit with China has since increased by only 100 per cent to $73.31 billion in 2021-22.

He highlighted that most of the goods imported from China are capital goods, intermediate goods and raw materials and are used for meeting the demand of fast expanding sectors like electronics, telecom and power in India. He said ‘the rise in import of electronic components, computer hardware and peripherals, telephone components, etc. can be attributed to transforming of India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. India's dependence on imports in these categories is largely due to the gap between domestic supply and demand.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18467.35, down by 29.25 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 18345.70 and 18468.35. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 1.05%, HCL Technologies up by 0.92%, Nestle up by 0.91%, Indusind Bank up by 0.81% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.63%, Eicher Motors down by 1.44%, Titan Company down by 1.21%, JSW Steel down by 1.17% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 77.67 points or 0.28% to 27,823.34, Hang Seng plunged 400.34 points or 2.01% to 19,500.53, Taiwan Weighted lost 128.15 points or 0.87% to 14,577.28, KOSPI fell 14.98 points or 0.63% to 2,374.06, Jakarta Composite declined 14.60 points or 0.22% to 6,700.52 and Shanghai Composite was down by 20.32 points or 0.63% to 3,186.63, while Straits Times rose 0.50 points or 0.02% to 3,246.47.