Domestic indices continue to trade in red with marginal losses

Domestic equity markets continued to trade in red with marginal losses in late morning deals on the back of weak cues from global markets. Traders remained cautious after U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers the U.S. central bank would be prepared to reaccelerate the pace of rate hikes if the economy grows too quickly. Further, depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too weighed down sentiments. Rupee weakened by 19 paise to 82.12 against the dollar at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange market on account of increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in  Utilities, Power, Capital Goods, Industrials and FMCG, while selling was witnessed in Realty, Consumer Durables, IT, TECK and Metal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific developments, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) surged after the Ministry of Defence signed contracts worth of Rs 9,900 crore with these companies for procurement of 70 HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft & three cadet training ships respectively.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60106.50, down by 117.96 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 59844.82 and 60208.12. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.06%, while Small cap index up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.30%, Power up by 1.24%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, Industrials up by 0.73% and FMCG up by 0.66%, while Realty down by 0.81%, Consumer Durables down by 0.74%, IT down by 0.70%, TECK down by 0.65% and Metal down by 0.60% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.11%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.07%, Tata Steel up by 0.85%, NTPC up by 0.74% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.17%, Sun Pharma down by 1.61%, Infosys down by 1.33%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.18% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.01% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) has said that India's auto components industry is expected to grow around 10-15 per cent in FY24, driven by both domestic and export market demand despite fears of recession in major markets of US and Europe.

It further said the auto components industry which clocked a turnover of $56.5 billion in FY22 with a growth of 23 per cent over the previous year is expected to end FY23 with a growth of 15 per cent. The domestic components industry stands to gain from the manufacturing of components for internal combustion engines (ICE) moving to India as the major Western markets of US and Europe migrate towards electric vehicles.

ACMA Director General Vinnie Mehta said ‘in the first nine months that have gone by, that is until December 2022, our export and import continue to be really very well balanced and they are both at $15.1 billion.' He also said ‘we are wary of the fact of the headwinds because of recessionary trends in Europe and the US. Despite these trends, we feel that our exports are growing in the expected trajectory. We haven't found any slowdown happening in exports. Also imports, because the domestic market has picked up quite strongly.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17684.05, down by 27.40 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 17602.25 and 17712.35. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.16%, Adani Ports up by 1.44%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.35%, ITC up by 1.09% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 2.13%, Sun Pharma down by 1.63%, Hindalco down by 1.35%, Infosys down by 1.30% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 40.2 points or 0.25% to 15,817.69, Hang Seng declined 506.42 points or 2.47% to 20,028.06, Shanghai Composite weakened 14.59 points or 0.44% to 3,270.51, KOSPI dropped 32.95 points or 1.34% to 2,430.40, Jakarta Composite plunged 33.23 points or 0.49% to 6,733.53 and Straits Times fell 11.89 points or 0.37% to 3,233.38. However, Nikkei 225 surged 128.64 points or 0.45% to 28,437.80.