Domestic equity indices trade marginally lower in early deals

Indian equity markets have made a negative start and are trading marginally in red in early deals on Thursday despite positive global cues, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers expect to deliver a couple more interest-rate increases before putting their aggressive tightening campaign on hold. There was some cautiousness in the markets as an analyst at Moody's Investors Service said that the Indian federal government’s aim to achieve a fiscal deficit target of 4.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025/26 could see some risks. The current pattern suggests that perhaps there could be some upward pressure on expenditure especially if they (government) continue with this focus on capex. However, losses got trimmed as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said a number of measures such as tweaks in customs duties on certain products announced in the Union Budget for 2023-24 will help boost the country's exports. Adani group stocks are in focus after Adani Enterprises has called off its Rs 20,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO). It will return the FPO proceeds and withdraw the completed transaction.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday, following firm cues from global markets, amid the United States Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and predicted the US economy will avoid a contraction this year. The US markets ended higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. The move was widely expected, and the Fed signaled that ongoing increases to short-term rates will be appropriate. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in  IT, TECK, Telecom, Consumer Durables and Industrials, while selling was witnessed in Utilities, Power, Oil & Gas, Energy and Bankex.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59687.33, down by 20.75 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 59215.62 and 59806.50. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.33%, while Small cap index up by 0.98%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.84%, TECK up by 1.74%, Telecom up by 1.66%, Consumer Durables up by 0.95% and Industrials up by 0.74%, while Utilities down by 2.81%, Power down by 2.55%, Oil & Gas down by 1.51%, Energy down by 1.32% and Bankex down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.10%, HCL up by 1.93%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.88%, ITC up by 1.77% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.41%. On the flip side, SBI down by 1.42%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.33%, NTPC down by 1.12%, HDFC down by 1.03% and ICICI Bank down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said a number of measures such as tweaks in customs duties on certain products announced in the Union Budget for 2023-24 will help boost the country's exports. Goyal further said that despite global economic uncertainties, India's goods and services exports together are registering nearly 14-15 per cent growth.

He stated ‘The world is seeing recessionary conditions and global growth and global trade are also expected to slow down. Despite that when we combine our merchandise and service exports, we are still at quite a sweet spot...We believe that we will close this year also at a double-digit growth in goods and services combined.’

Moreover, he said that merchandise outbound shipments will be 'slightly less' as the whole world is overstocked, high inventories are there, and inflation has caused consumer demand to fall. He added ‘as the global economy recovers from these stresses, particularly of inflation, next year we hope to do better even in merchandise exports and the finance minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) has been generous with her budget allocations for the commerce and industry ministry. So I am quite confident that this will give a boost to our exports.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17609.85, down by 6.45 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 17445.95 and 17611.00. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 1.88%, HCL up by 1.62%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.61%, ITC up by 1.49% and Titan up by 1.28%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 10.00%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 10.00%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 3.67%, UPL down by 3.52% and SBI down by 1.77% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 142.01 points or 0.92% to 15,562.14, Hang Seng advanced 129.26 points or 0.59% to 22,201.44, Shanghai Composite strengthened 9.59 points or 0.29% to 3,294.51, KOSPI increased 17.82 points or 0.73% to 2,467.62, Jakarta Composite gained 29 points or 0.42% to 6,891.26 and Nikkei 225 surged 38.58 points or 0.14% to 27,385.46. However, Straits Times fell 14.65 points or 0.43% to 3,363.00.