Domestic indices continue to trade in red in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices remained in red in late morning deals on account of selling by market participants. Sentiments were cautious after strong economic data from the U.S. reignited rate concerns. The Commerce Department said real gross domestic product surged by 2.4 percent in the second quarter after jumping by 2.0 percent in the first quarter. Street had expected the pace of GDP growth to slow to 1.8 percent. Further, depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too weighed down sentiments. Rupee weakened by 31 paise to 82.23 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, Realty, PSU and FMCG, while selling was witnessed in TECK, IT, Bankex, Consumer Durables and Telecom. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite negative cues from US markets overnight. Traders got some support as China’s housing ministry has announced plans to make it easier for people to buy property. Back home, in the stock specific development, Intellect Design Arena soared after the company's total income rose 19 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 644.3 crore in the April-June quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 (Q1FY24).  

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65994.40, down by 272.42 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 65960.54 and 66351.22. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.22%, while Small cap index up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.21%, Power up by 2.05%, Realty up by 1.27%, PSU up by 0.53% and FMCG up by 0.32%, while TECK down by 0.64%, IT down by 0.57%, Bankex down by 0.56%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46% and Telecom down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 3.49%, NTPC up by 2.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.29%, Nestle up by 0.74% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.36%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.10%, Tata Motors down by 2.03%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.36%, Titan down by 1.29% and TCS down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that India is on track to becoming a key player in the global semiconductor supply chain in the next decade with $ 10 billion (about Rs 81,993 crore) of incentives and assistance provided to encourage local chip manufacturing. 

The minister said there is not one person in the semiconductor global ecosystem that does not see India as a very credible, viable and fast charging destination for semiconductor investments and innovation. He said ‘we are on track to do in the next 10 years with these $ 10 billion, what countries like China took 25-30 years and could not succeed’. He mentioned the Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) project with Micron will create 5,000 jobs and 15,000 indirect roles in the semiconductor industry.

He further said the government is implementing a ‘comprehensive curriculum’ in partnership with the industry for creating 85,000 globally skilled talent for VLSI (very large scale integration), with students from post-doctorate degrees, masters and undergraduate courses. He said ‘we have rebuilt the electronics ecosystem since 2014, exporting over 1 lakh crore and crossed almost 8 lakh rows of total electronic production and becoming an increasingly big presence in global value supply chains for electronics. He also announced that the government is ‘charging forward’ in the design part of the semiconductor ecosystem with 30 startups, among which five have received direct financial support from the government.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19607.45, down by 52.45 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 19587.50 and 19695.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 3.59%, NTPC up by 2.53%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.85%, ONGC up by 1.81% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.30%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.15%, Tata Motors down by 1.50%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.35%, TCS down by 1.24% and Titan down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Taiwan Weighted added 51.11 points or 0.3% to 17,292.93, Hang Seng advanced 236.31 points or 1.2% to 19,875.42, Shanghai Composite strengthened 55.75 points or 1.73% to 3,272.42, KOSPI increased 0.92 points or 0.04% to 2,604.73 and Straits Times rose 31.88 points or 0.96% to 3,369.30. However, Jakarta Composite plunged 20.04 points or 0.29% to 6,876.62 and Nikkei 225 slipped 100.09 points or 0.3% to 32,791.07.