Bourses trade volatile in late afternoon session

In a volatile trading session, the Indian equity benchmarks once again turned negative in late afternoon session. Fluctuations were an indication that investors preferred to play safe and watch for the behavior of the market ahead of release of Fed minutes on Wednesday. IT and Oil& Gas sectors were dealing with losses amid concerns over further uptick in interest rates. Traders were looking forward to European and U.S. manufacturing data later in day and Friday's core PCE price index to help guide their next steps. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as geopolitical tensions intensified and investors awaited Federal Reserve minutes meeting for directional cues. European markets were trading lower following declines in Asia and as Wall Street prepares to reopen after a long holiday weekend.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60666.37, down by 25.17 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 60625.27 and 60976.59. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.03%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.93%, Utilities up by 0.78%, Capital Goods up by 0.51%, Industrials up by 0.41% and FMCG was up by 0.36%, while Realty down by 0.77%, IT down by 0.42%, TECK down by 0.38%, Telecom down by 0.27% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 3.43%, Tata Steel up by 0.89%, Reliance Industries up by 0.76%, Power Grid up by 0.74% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 1.46%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.04%, Indusind Bank down by 0.78%, Wipro down by 0.72% and Tata Motors down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional Estimate of Net Payroll’ data report has showed that India created 1493031 new jobs in the month of December 2022 as against revised figure of 1385923 in November 2022.

As per the report, the maximum jobs were created in the age bracket of 22-25 and in this bracket the top sectors which have created more fresh jobs include Expert Services; Trading-Commercial Establishments; Establishment Engaged in Manufacture, Marketing Servicing; Engineers- Engineering Contractors; Building & Construction Industry; Financing Establishment and Hospitals. In the similar age bracket, Maharashtra was the first among the States to create maximum payroll, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi.

According to the data report, 5676 new jobs were created in less than 18 age group category, while 277343 jobs in 18-21 age group category. Further, 22-25 age, 26-28 age, 29-35 age and more than 35 age group category witnessed 360188, 217333, 334586 and 297905 new payrolls, respectively in December.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17824.25, down by 20.35 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 17817.50 and 17924.90. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 3.39%, Tata Steel up by 0.98%, Britannia up by 0.97%, Adani Ports up by 0.92% and Tata Consumer up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 2.01%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.67%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.56%, Sun Pharma down by 1.37% and Coal India down by 1.33% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed, Hang Seng declined 357.47 points or 1.74% to 20,529.49, Nikkei 225 slipped 58.84 points or 0.21% to 27,473.10, Jakarta Composite plunged 21.32 points or 0.31% to 6,873.40 and Straits Times was down by 4.05 points or 0.12% to 3,304.70. On the flip side, KOSPI increased 3.84 points or 0.16% to 2,458.96, Taiwan Weighted added 11.77 points or 0.08% to 15,563.00 and Shanghai Composite was up by 16.18 points or 0.49% to 3,306.52.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 34.63 points or 0.43% to 7,979.68, France’s CAC fell 37.98 points or 0.52% to 7,297.63 and Germany’s DAX was down by 102.5 points or 0.66% to 15,375.05.