Sensex, Nifty linger under selling pressure

Indian equity benchmarks were lingering under a selling pressure in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower by around 0.50% each, impacted by negative cues from other Asian markets along with heavy selling at Healthcare and FMCG counters. Sentiments also got hit after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its ‘July 2023 round of its bi-monthly consumer confidence survey (CCS)’ stated that after persistent recovery for almost two years, consumer confidence for current period, as reflected in the current situation index (CSI), stood a shade lower than that witnessed in the previous survey round; improvement in respondents’ sentiment on income and spending was offset by somewhat higher pessimism on general economic and employment situation. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in red, even after Singapore's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2023.  That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the 0.4 percent contraction in the three months prior. On an annualized basis, GDP grew 0.5 percent - again missing forecasts for 0.7 percent but up from 0.4 percent in the previous quarter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65382.32, down by 305.86 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 65331.97 and 65727.80. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.04%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.44%, PSU up by 0.39%, Realty up by 0.32%, Industrials up by 0.30% and Capital Goods up by 0.21%, while Healthcare down by 0.97%, FMCG down by 0.79%, Oil & Gas down by 0.42%, Energy down by 0.39% and Metal down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.86%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 0.99%, Titan Company up by 0.98%, Tata Steel up by 0.83% and State Bank of India up by 0.65%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 1.82%, Sun Pharma down by 1.70%, Indusind Bank down by 1.60%, ITC down by 1.32% and Infosys down by 1.27% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has invested Rs 13,017 crore in exchange traded funds (ETFs) in the April-July period of the current fiscal year (FY24). EPFO invested Rs 53,081 crore in ETFs in 2022-23, Rs 43,568 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 32,071 crore in 2020-21. The EPFO invested Rs 31,501 crore in ETFs in 2019-20 and Rs 27,974 crore in 2018-19.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli has stated that the EPFO invests in equity markets through ETFs, replicating BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 indices. From time to time, EPFO has also invested in ETFs constructed specifically for disinvestment of shareholding of the Government of India in body corporates. The total corpus of various funds managed by the EPFO as of March 31, 2022, was Rs 18.30 lakh crore, consisting of 91.30 per cent investment in debt investments (including Public Account of India) and 8.7 per cent in ETFs.

Teli further said the code on Social Security, 2020 envisages social security benefits through formulation of schemes for gig and platform workers that can be implemented through EPFO and Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, which provide social security benefits to organised sector workers.  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19445.25, down by 97.85 points or 0.50% after trading in a range of 19434.70 and 19557.75. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.88%, Titan Company up by 1.05%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 1.01%, Tata Steel up by 0.87% and State Bank of India up by 0.60%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.09%, NTPC down by 1.84%, Indusind Bank down by 1.68%, Sun Pharma down by 1.59% and ITC down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading in red; Hang Seng declined 170 points or 0.89% to 19,078.26, Shanghai Composite weakened 56.89 points or 1.78% to 3,197.67, Taiwan Weighted lost 33.45 points or 0.2% to 16,601.25, Straits Times fell 28.93 points or 0.88% to 3,294.00, Jakarta Composite plunged 22.22 points or 0.32% to 6,871.06 and KOSPI dropped 10.3 points or 0.4% to 2,591.26.