Sensex, Nifty add losses; trade near day’s low points

Extending their losses, Indian equity benchmarks were trading near their intraday low points, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were downbeat, amid a private report stating that India's current account deficit likely rose to its highest in nearly a decade in the July-September quarter as elevated commodity prices and a weak rupee stretched the trade gap even further. Traders took a note of the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India is seeing a fall in demand for jobs under a rural employment guarantee programme. The street overlooked report stating that financialisation of savings is growing in the country, and the assets under management will grow to nearly three-fourths of GDP in five years to FY2027.
 
On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority lifted its benchmark rate by 50 basis points on Thursday, following the policy announcement of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The HKMA adjusted the Base Rate upwards to 4.75 percent from 4.25 percent with immediate effect.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 62273.90, down by 404.01 points or 0.64% after trading in a range of 62245.73 and 62624.81. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.32%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.62%, Energy up by 0.22% and Realty up by 0.13%, while IT down by 1.30%, TECK down by 1.26%, Consumer Durables down by 0.89%, Metal down by 0.88% and FMCG down by 0.70% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 0.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.29%, NTPC up by 0.23%, Sun Pharma up by 0.17% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.06%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.37%, Infosys down by 1.64%, Titan Company down by 1.39%, TCS down by 1.30% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.17% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that huge opportunities are there in the textiles segment and the country would achieve $100 billion export target from the sector by 2030. He said that free trade agreements will further help boost textile exports. The country's textile exports were at a record of $44.4 billion in 2021-22.

Goyal said ‘in the textiles sector, a margin of 4 per cent or 5 per cent is important to become competitive and in the free trade agreement we are insisting on duty free access for the industry’. The agreements will give a big boost to the sector. He said that the UK has a 9 per cent duty on different items and if that goes away it will give boost the industry. He also said India is negotiating an FTA with the UK. India has implemented similar pacts with the UAE and Australia.

On PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks, the minister said that 18 proposals have been received from different states. He said ‘we are at an advance stage of evaluating these proposals and we hope to finalise it in near future’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18549.55, down by 110.75 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 18539.80 and 18652.90. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.15%, SBI Life Insurance Company up by 0.86%, Britannia Industries up by 0.71%, Tata Motors up by 0.62% and BPCL up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.41%, Titan Company down by 1.57%, Infosys down by 1.55%, TCS down by 1.35% and HCL Tech. down by 1.16% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Taiwan Weighted dropped 5.23 points or 0.04% to 14,734.13, Nikkei 225 slipped 104.51 points or 0.37% to 28,051.70, Hang Seng decreased 243.45 points or 1.24% to 19,430.00, KOSPI fell 38.28 points or 1.6% to 2,360.97, Straits Times trembled 1.73 points or 0.05% to 3,276.84, Shanghai Composite declined 8.90 points or 0.28% to 3,167.63 and Jakarta Composite lost 21.37 points or 0.31% to 6,780.38.