Benchmarks continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, due to losses in Metal, Realty and Utilities stocks. Traders remained cautious as provisional data available on the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 628.07 crore on January 3, 2023. Traders failed to take any sense of relief with a private report that India's services industry saw activity increase at the fastest pace in six months during the final month of 2022 amid robust demand, fuelling business optimism despite high costs. The S&P Global India services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 58.5 in December from 56.4 in the previous month. Sectorally, leather industry stocks remained in limelight as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the government is considering a new scheme to support domestic manufacturing of machinery and accessories used in the leather industry. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors awaited a slew of U.S. data and the latest FOMC meeting minutes this week for additional clues on when and where interest rates might peak.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60995.08, down by 299.12 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 60903.96 and 61327.21. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.62%, while Small cap index was down by 0.35%.

The lone gaining sectoral indices on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.13%, while Metal down by 1.82%, Realty down by 1.10%, Utilities down by 0.93%, Energy down by 0.89% and PSU down by 0.83% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 0.97%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.57%, Axis Bank up by 0.30% and Asian Paints up by 0.15%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.56%, Indusind Bank down by 1.18%, Tata Steel down by 1.14%, ITC down by 1.03% and Wipro down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Rating agency Icra has revised its growth estimates for the Indian road logistics sector to 11-13 per cent for the current fiscal (FY23) against the previous estimate of 7-9 per cent. It said the growth is supported by a strong demand environment, coupled with the continuation of firm freight rates, also supported by the base effect to an extent, given that FY22 had a weak first quarter due to the second wave of COVID-19.

Further, Icra said it expects revenue growth of the Indian road logistics sector at a higher single digit for FY24 over FY23 on an elevated base and continuation of a healthy demand scenario. It added the debt coverage metrics of the logistic sector are expected to marginally moderate in FY23 and FY24 compared to the FY22 levels, owing to expected debt-funded capital expenditure for vehicle replacement required prior to the introduction of the scrappage policy, along with the rising interest rate regime.

Besides, it said multimodal offerings are likely to gain from increased acceptance and traction going forward, as players offering multi-modal services have more flexibility. In addition to these, it mentioned timely and effective implementation of the National Logistics Policy and other such initiatives would be key to providing the requisite impetus to the sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18147.65, down by 84.90 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 18113.70 and 18243.00. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.41%, Divi's Lab up by 1.03%, Sun Pharma up by 0.99%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.59% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.41%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.00%, JSW Steel down by 2.36%, Coal India down by 1.94%, ONGC down by 1.94% and Tata Motors down by 1.55% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 327.12 points or 1.25% to 25,767.38, Taiwan Weighted dropped 17.77 points or 0.12% to 14,206.35, Jakarta Composite lost 16.24 points or 0.24% to 6,872.52 and Straits Times trembled 0.18 points or 0.01% to 3,245.62.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 10.01 points or 0.32% to 3,126.52, KOSPI rose 38.36 points or 1.73% to 2,257.04 Hang Seng increased 462.92 points or 2.3% to 20,608.21.