Weak trade continues over Dalal Street

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, amid negative cues from other Asian markets along with heavy selling at Power and Utilities counters. The street failed to take relief from reports that Fitch Ratings raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 6.3 per cent for current fiscal year 2023-24 from 6 per cent it had predicted previously. This is primarily because of a stronger outturn in the first quarter and near-term momentum. Meanwhile, Capital markets regulator Sebi prescribed a standard format for seeking the trading preference of clients for the same product in different exchanges.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after producer prices in South Korea were down 0.3 percent on month in May. That missed expectations for a decline of 0.2 percent following the 0.1 percent drop in April. Individually, prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products were up 1.5 percent on month, while prices for manufacturing products dropped 0.8 percent, utilities were up 0.6 percent and services were flat.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63390.77, down by 132.38 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 63319.40 and 63601.71. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.78%, while Small cap index was down by 0.46%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Bankex up by 0.08%, while Power down by 1.01%, Utilities down by 0.81%, PSU down by 0.76%, IT down by 0.74% and Telecom down by 0.70% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 0.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.63%, HDFC up by 0.63%, HDFC Bank up by 0.61% and ITC up by 0.27%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.37%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.73%, NTPC down by 1.41%, Infosys down by 1.24% and Power Grid Corporation of India down by 1.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual Gender Gap Report, 2023 said that India has ranked at 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity -- an improvement of eight places from last year. The WEF ranked India at 135 out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index in the report's 2022 edition. India has improved by 1.4 percentage points and eight positions since the last edition, marking a partial recovery towards its 2020 parity level.

According to the report, the country has attained parity in enrolment across all levels of education. India has closed 64.3 per cent of the overall gender gap. However, it underlined that India has reached only 36.7 per cent parity on economic participation and opportunity. The index ranked India's neighbours Pakistan at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103.

The report pointed out that in India, while there has been uptick in parity in wages and income, the share of women in senior positions and technical roles have dropped slightly since the last edition. On political empowerment, India has registered 25.3 per cent parity, with women representing 15.1 per cent of parliamentarians -- the highest for the country since the inaugural report in 2006. Out of the 117 countries with available data since 2017, 18 countries -- including Bolivia (50.4 per cent), India (44.4 per cent) and France (42.3 per cent) -- have achieved women's representation of over 40 per cent in local governance.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 18826.40, down by 30.45 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 18801.35 and 18886.60. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Laboratories up by 1.29%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.12%, ICICI Bank up by 0.79%, HDFC up by 0.67% and HDFC Bank up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.19%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.72%, NTPC down by 1.28%, Tata Motors down by 1.26% and Cipla down by 1.23% were the top losers. 

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 310.26 points or 0.93% to 33,264.88, Jakarta Composite plunged 7.6 points or 0.11% to 6,695.03 and Straits Times fell 7.34 points or 0.23% to 3,216.32, while KOSPI increased 11.07 points or 0.43% to 2,593.70.