Bourses trade lower with cut of around half percent in late afternoon deals

Local equities pared of their losses in late afternoon session but continued to trade below neutral lines. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were also trading lower. Losses were contained with Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that the notes in circulation (NIC) in the economy rose 8% as of December 2 from a year before to Rs 31.93 trillion. Between March 2016 (the note ban exercise was undertaken in November 2016) and March 2022, the notes in circulation rose from Rs 16.42 trillion to Rs 31.06 trillion. This means it grew from the pre-demonetisation level of 10.7% of GDP in FY16 to 13.1% in FY22. On the global front, All Asian markets were trading lower after the Bank of Japan said it would review its yield curve control policy and widened its target band for interest rates - a move that would allow long-term interest rates to rise more. Hawkish comments on interest rates from former Federal Reserve official William Dudley also fueled worries about a worldwide recession. European markets were trading lower as investors assessed the interest rate outlook for 2023.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 61508.27, down by 297.92 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 61102.68 and 61612.73. There were 2 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.54%, while Small cap index was down by 0.13%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 1.39%, Metal down by 1.03%, Realty down by 1.00%, Auto down by 0.94% and Utilities was down by 0.89%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The only gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 0.95% and Reliance Industries up by 0.15%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.05%, Tata Motors down by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.64%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.50% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, minister of state for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma has said that 1.31 crore people were employed in the MSMEs incorporated in the financial year 2021-22 (FY22), up by 16% as against 1.13 crore employees in the MSMEs incorporated in FY21.

As per the data on employment in MSMEs, 6622941 people were employed in the MSMEs incorporated in the financial year 2019-20 as compared with 6010653 employees in the MSMEs incorporated in financial year 2018-19.

The report further noted that 20,78,882 MSMEs were incorporated during the financial year 2021-22 as against 18,41,253 MSMEs incorporated during the financial year 2020-21. Meanwhile, during the financial year 2019-20, there were 11,03,970 MSMEs incorporated.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18326.90, down by 93.55 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 18202.65 and 18355.20. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 1.04%, TCS up by 0.97%, Infosys up by 0.21%, Axis Bank up by 0.17% and Reliance Industries up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Eicher Motors down by 2.34%, SBI Life down by 2.33%, UPL down by 2.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.09% and Hindalco down by 1.98% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower, Nikkei 225 slipped 669.61 points or 2.46% to 26,568.03, Taiwan Weighted dropped 263.29 points or 1.82% to 14,170.03, Hang Seng decreased 258.01 points or 1.33% to 19,094.80, Shanghai Composite declined 33.35 points or 1.07% to 3,073.77, KOSPI fell 18.88 points or 0.8% to 2,333.29, Jakarta Composite lost 11.38 points or 0.17% to 6,768.32 and Straits Times was down by 6.83 points or 0.21% to 3,249.78.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 46.35 points or 0.63% to 7,314.96, France’s CAC decreased 79.33 points or 1.23% to 6,393.96 and Germany’s DAX was down by 136.08 points or 0.98% to 13,806.79.