Bears hold tight grip in Indian markets

Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty falling by around a per cent, impacted by negative cues from other Asian markets along with heavy selling at Utilities and Power counters. Traders got cautious amid reports that the central government's debt stood at Rs 155.6 lakh crore or 57.1 per cent of the GDP at the end of March 2023. Besides, the Indian rupee dropped to near one-month low against the US dollar on August 2 amid rising crude prices and weak Asian currencies.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, after consumer prices in South Korea were up 2.3 percent on year in July, touching a two-year low. The July reading was shy of expectations for 2.4 percent and down from 2.7 percent in June. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent - also below forecasts for a gain of 0.2 percent following the flat reading a month earlier.

Back home, banking stocks were in watch, as Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad has said that the growth of deposits and advances of public sector banks (PSBs) has improved from 8.2% and 9.8% in FY2021-22 to 9.3% and 15.8% in FY2022-23, respectively. He stated that the PSBs take all commercial and business-related decisions as per their board approved policies. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65812.15, down by 647.16 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 65751.53 and 66261.97. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.13%, while Small cap index was down by 0.64%.

There was no gaining sectoral index on the BSE, while Utilities down by 1.92%, Power down by 1.86%, PSU down by 1.82%, Metal down by 1.81% and Oil & Gas down by 1.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The few gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 1.04%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74% and Asian Paints up by 0.56%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.24%, Tata Steel down by 2.52%, Tata Motors down by 2.29%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.59% and SBI down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government data has showed that the country's power consumption grew by 8.4 per cent to 139 billion units (BU) in July 2023 as compared to the same month last year. In the year-ago period, power consumption stood at 128.25 BU, higher than 123.72 BU in July 2021.

It also stated that the peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, rose to 208.82 GW in July 2023. The peak power supply stood at 190.35 GW in July 2022 and 200.53 GW in July 2021. 

The power ministry had estimated the country's electricity demand to touch 229 GW during the summer season. But the demand did not reach the projected level in April-May this year due to unseasonal rains. Power consumption was affected in March, April, May and June this year due to widespread rains in the country.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19542.85, down by 190.70 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 19517.55 and 19678.25. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Nestle up by 1.25%, Divi's Laboratories up by 0.85%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.76%, Asian Paints up by 0.49% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.30%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.09%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.93%, Tata Steel down by 2.52%, Tata Motors down by 2.36% and BPCL down by 1.85% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 768.89 points or 2.35% to 32,707.69, Hang Seng declined 478.35 points or 2.39% to 19,532.77, Taiwan Weighted lost 319.14 points or 1.89% to 16,893.73, KOSPI dropped 50.6 points or 1.93% to 2,616.47, Straits Times fell 47.47 points or 1.41% to 3,326.32, Jakarta Composite plunged 39.1 points or 0.57% to 6,847.40 and Shanghai Composite weakened 33.8 points or 1.03% to 3,257.15.