Indices remain under selling pressure on global growth worries

Domestic equity indices remained in red and traded with cut of around half a percent in late morning deals on global growth worries after ECB and Bank of England raised interest rates and maintained a hawkish tone regarding inflation. The Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank, have all raised their interest rates, and most of these central banks have said further increases are likely as inflation remains at elevated levels. Traders ignored report that in order to make India a production hub finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked Indian industry to work out strategies as to how businesses operating in developed countries can look at India as a sourcing hub amid recession fears in the western countries. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Energy, Oil & Gas, Consumer discretionary and Basic Materials stocks, while selling was witnessed in Auto, Power, Capital Goods, Industrials and PSU stocks.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red following the broadly negative cues from US markets overnight, with traders remaining largely cautious as aggressive interest rate hikes by global central banks will push the economy into a recession. Back home, shares of sugar companies were in focus on hopes of hike in sugar quota. Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals, Ugar Sugar Works, Simbhaoli Sugars, Sakthi Sugars and Bajaj Hindustan were trading higher.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61551.27, down by 247.76 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 61364.17 and 61893.22. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.22%, while Small cap index down by 0.74%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 0.24%, Oil & Gas up by 0.14%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.04% and Basic Materials up by 0.02%, while Auto down by 1.17%, Power down by 1.11%, Capital Goods down by 1.11%, Industrials down by 1.02% and PSU down by 0.98% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 0.61%, Reliance Industries up by 0.50%, Nestle up by 0.45%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.30% and Indusind Bank up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.94%, ITC down by 1.74%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.23%, HDFC down by 1.11% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India’s merchandise exports recorded a flat growth of 0.59 per cent to $31.99 billion in November 2022 as compared to $31.80 billion in November 2021. Merchandise imports rose by 5.37 per cent to $55.88 billion in November 2022 as compared to $53.03 billion in the corresponding month a year ago. Besides, trade deficit widened to $23.89 billion in November 2022.

As per the data, merchandise exports for the period April-November 2022 were $295.26 billion as against $265.77 billion during the period April-November 2021. Merchandise imports for the period April-November 2022 were $493.61 billion as against $381.17 billion during the period April-November 2021. The merchandise trade deficit for April-November 2022 was estimated at $198.35 billion as against $115.39 billion in April-November 2021

The data further showed that Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in November 2022 were $24.09 billion, compared to $23.91 billion in November 2021. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports during April-November 2022 were $206.16 billion, as compared to $200.43 billion in April-November 2021. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $34.45 billion in November 2022, compared to $32.33 billion in November 2021. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports were $293.83 billion in April-November 2022 as compared to $230.91 billion in April-November 2021.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18334.85, down by 80.05 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 18270.95 and 18440.95. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.56%, Reliance Industries up by 0.55%, ONGC up by 0.51%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.51% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.51%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.95%, ITC down by 1.80%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.68%, Grasim Industries down by 1.45% and BPCL down by 1.33% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 544.43 points or 1.94% to 27,507.27, Taiwan Weighted dropped 232.56 points or 1.58% to 14,501.57, Straits Times trembled 24.60 points or 0.75% to 3,249.15, Shanghai Composite declined 16.04 points or 0.51% to 3,152.61, KOSPI fell 8.57 points or 0.36% to 2,352.40, Jakarta Composite lost 6.40 points or 0.09% to 6,745.46 and Hang Seng decreased 4.17 points or 0.02% to 19,364.42.