Bourses continue cautious trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their cautious trade in late afternoon session amid monthly F&O expiry. Traders were worried after notes from a Federal Reserve meeting showed officials expect to keep US interest rates high to fight stubborn inflation. Traders worry the Fed and other central banks might be willing to push the global economy into recession to extinguish inflation that has stuck near multi-decade highs despite sharp rate hikes over the past year. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with little buying enthusiasm after minutes from a Federal Reserve policy meeting indicated interest rates will likely keep rising longer than previously feared. European markets were trading mostly in green as chip stocks rose following a positive sales forecast from U.S. semiconductor designer Nvidia.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59792.12, up by 47.14 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 59406.31 and 59960.04. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.24%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.71%, FMCG up by 0.54%, PSU up by 0.48%, Oil & Gas up by 0.40% and Bankex was up by 0.39%, while Realty down by 1.24%, Utilities down by 1.14%, Power down by 1.07%, Consumer Durables down by 0.73% and Capital Goods was down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank up by 1.51%, ITC up by 1.41%, SBI up by 1.12%, Tata Motors up by 1.05% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.44%, Indusind Bank down by 1.53%, Titan Company down by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.08% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and Anarock in their joint report showed that the size of the country's retail market is likely to grow from $690 billion in 2021 to $2 trillion by 2032. As per the report, real estate developers plan to add nearly 25 million square feet of new mall space across seven major cities over the next 4-5 years. It also noted that in 2022, these seven cities added over 2.6 million sq ft of mall space, up 27 per cent from the preceding year.

A joint report further said that presently, the top cities have over 51 million sq ft of mall stock across the country with NCR (National Capital Region), MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) and Bengaluru accounting for 62 per cent of the total stock.

According to the report, the average rentals in malls appreciated nearly 15 per cent in 2022 over the previous year. Bengaluru registered the highest uptick in rentals of around 27 per cent, followed by Kolkata at 20 per cent in 2022 over the previous year. The report also said that e-retail market is expected to reach $120-140 billion by FY26, increasing at 25-30 per cent annually over the next five years.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17571.10, up by 16.80 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 17455.40 and 17620.05. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 1.60%, Coal India up by 1.56%, Hindalco up by 1.49%, Axis Bank up by 1.42% and ITC up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.68%, Indusind Bank down by 1.56%, Titan Company down by 1.45%, Divi's Lab down by 1.18% and HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed, Nikkei 225 slipped 368.78 points or 1.36% to 27,104.32, Hang Seng declined 72.49 points or 0.36% to 20,351.35, Straits Times fell 28.61 points or 0.87% to 3,271.43 and Shanghai Composite was down by 3.67 points or 0.11% to 3,287.48. On the flip side, KOSPI increased 21.41 points or 0.88% to 2,439.09, Jakarta Composite gained 29.48 points or 0.43% to 6,839.45 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 196.64 points or 1.26% to 15,615.41.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC rose 28.78 points or 0.39% to 7,328.04 and Germany’s DAX was up by 104.4 points or 0.68% to 15,504.29. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 14.75 points or 0.19% to 7,915.88.