Markets trade in red in early deals

Indian markets made cautious start on Friday and soon slipped below neutral lines tracking negative cues from Wall Street overnight and mixed cues from Asian peers amid speculation that the Bank of Japan may consider tweaking its yield curve control policy. Traders react to upbeat US GDP data that raised some concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Wednesday's monetary policy decision by the US Fed. Also, overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan were up 3.2 percent on year in July. At this point of trade, markets are trading in red with marginal cut as losses in Bankex, Metal and Oil & Gas dragged the indices lower. Also, the strengthening of the US dollar against most Asian currencies is hurting market sentiment. Meanwhile, rupee depreciated against dollar in early trade.

Foreign fund outflows also dent domestic sentiments. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth net Rs 3,979.44 crore on July 27. Though, downside remained capped taking support with a report by industry body PHDCCI showing that the trade between India and the US is likely to touch $300 billion in 2026-27 from $188 billion in 2022-23, with about 60 per cent rise in value. Besides, broader indices are outperforming larger peers with decent gains.

On the sectoral front, chemicals industry stocks are in focus as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is considering a separate production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for chemicals and petrochemicals. She added global manufacturers are interested in India where the sector is linked to 80,000 products. In stock specific developments, Ajanta Pharma surged after net profit rose 19 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q1FY24. On the other hand, Blue Dart fell as Q1 profit declines 48% YoY.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66136.42, down by 130.40 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 66020.00 and 66351.22. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.17%, while Small cap index was up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.51%, Healthcare up by 0.41%, Utilities up by 0.37%, Capital Goods up by 0.35% and Power up by 0.32%, while Bankex down by 0.59%, Metal down by 0.47%, Oil & Gas down by 0.21%, TECK down by 0.19%, Telecom down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.14%, Power Grid up by 0.90%, Reliance Industries up by 0.86%, ITC up by 0.70% and Nestle up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.23%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.14%, Tata Motors down by 1.06%, TCS down by 0.91% and HDFC Bank down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, industry body -- PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in its latest report titled ‘The India-US Bilateral Relations: Steady Strides into the Future’ has said that the trade between India and the US is likely to touch $300 billion in 2026-27 from $188 billion in 2022-23, with about 60 per cent rise in value. As per the report, the volume of exports (merchandise and services combined) from India to the US has increased from $82 billion in the financial year 2018-19 to $111 Billion in 2022-23. The volume of imports (merchandise and services) from India to the US has increased from $58 Billion in 2018-19 to $76 Billion in 2022-23.

Saket Dalmia, President, PHDCCI said that India and the US, the two largest democracies, are not only collaborating closely in trade but also possess common interests in promoting global economic prosperity which is evident from the strong bilateral cooperation between them in forums like G20, Quad, and IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity).

With an aim to further strengthen the ties between the two countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US from June 21-23, 2023. Co-production of jet engines for the Indian Air Force, defence industrial collaboration, space sector cooperation, semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership and collaboration in emerging Artificial Intelligence technology are among key takeaways from PM Modi’s visit to the US and his bilateral meeting with President Joe Biden.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19636.20, down by 23.70 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 19598.70 and 19695.90. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.55%, Reliance Industries up by 1.32%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.15%, Power Grid up by 0.96% and ONGC up by 0.88%. On the flip side, BPCL down by 1.21%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.20%, Hindalco down by 1.17%, HDFC Bank down by 1.00% and Axis Bank down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 162.92 points or 0.83% to 19,802.03, Shanghai Composite strengthened 44.53 points or 1.37% to 3,261.20, Taiwan Weighted added 35.31 points or 0.2% to 17,277.13 and Straits Times was up by 23.05 points or 0.69% to 3,360.47. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slipped 767.45 points or 2.33% to 32,123.71, Jakarta Composite plunged 21.4 points or 0.31% to 6,875.26 and KOSPI was down by 11.62 points or 0.45% to 2,592.19.