Markets continue bearish trade in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their bearish trade in morning session on account of selling in blue chip counters. Sentiments remained down-beat with private report stating that private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) funds' investments into Indian entities declined by nearly a fourth to $27.5 billion in January-June 2023 against the year-ago period. Traders overlooked S&P Global Ratings’ report in which it has projected Indian banking sector's weak loans will decline to 3-3.5 per cent of gross advances by March 31, 2025 as structural improvements and good economic prospects would support the resilience of financial institutions. In its mid-year global bank outlook, S&P said India's economic growth prospects should remain strong over the medium term, with GDP expanding 6-7.1 per cent annually in fiscal years 2024-2026. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as traders remained cautious ahead to next week's US Fed monetary policy meeting, where the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66930.13, down by 641.77 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 66822.15 and 67190.52. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.07%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.11%, Industrials up by 0.82%, PSU up by 0.53%, Telecom up by 0.17%, Power up by 0.12% while, IT down by 3.52%, TECK down by 3.13%, Consumer Durables down by 0.62%, Energy down by 0.46%, Metal down by 0.31% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.40%, SBI up by 0.77%, ITC up by 0.62%, Nestle up by 0.57% and Power Grid Corporation up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.56%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.54%, Wipro down by 2.26%, HCL Technologies down by 2.10% and Reliance Industries down by 1.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that Japan is keen to make investments of around 5 trillion Japanese yen in India across various sectors including steel. The steel minister made the remarks after a meeting with a Japanese delegation led by NISHIMURA Yasutoshi, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, in the national capital.

Scindia  stated ‘We had a very detailed discussion...about the common strategies that we can develop in terms of the path forward, exchange of best practices, exchange of new technologies, Japanese investment in India which would be close to 5 trillion yen...over the next few years not only in the steel sector but other sectors as well.’

He said the meeting was very positive. It will provide many areas and platforms where India and Japan will work closely together with regards to the steel sector. He added the delegation discussed tremendous growth prospects in India in the steel sector which is to grow to 300 million tonne (MT) capacity by 2030 from 160 MT at present.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19809.40, down by 169.75 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 19776.00 and 19887.40. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.31%, Divi's Lab up by 1.10%, ONGC up by 0.99%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.81% and SBI up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.59%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.66%, Wipro down by 2.37%, HCL Technologies down by 2.18% and Reliance Industries down by 2.00% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted lost 139.95 points or 0.82% to 17,024.94, Jakarta Composite plunged 20.38 points or 0.3% to 6,843.81, Straits Times fell 0.18 points or 0.01% to 3,274.20 and Nikkei 225 slipped 180.07 points or 0.55% to 32,310.45.

On the flip side, Hang Seng advanced 136.83 points or 0.72% to 19,064.85, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.42 points or 0.04% to 3,170.94 and KOSPI increased 2.43 points or 0.09% to 2,602.66.