Bourses wipe out losses in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks wiped out all their early losses and entered into green territory in late afternoon session, as investors went for beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. India's merchandise trade deficit in July stood at $20.67 billion. Merchandise exports stood at $32.25 billion, while imports were $52.92 billion in July, government data showed. In the previous month, merchandise exports were $32.97 billion, while imports stood at $53.10 billion. Traders took note of report that India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) deflated for the fourth straight month in July at (-) 1.36% as against (-) 4.12% recorded in June, 2023, due to fall in the prices of Minerals, Mineral oils, and Electricity. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after falls in US tech stocks and as concerns over China's property sector weighed on sentiment. European markets were trading mostly in green led by advances in defensive sectors including healthcare and telecoms, while falls in miners on concerns over China's embattled property sector kept gains in check. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65392.38, up by 69.73 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 64821.88 and 65416.98. There were 12 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.45%, while Small cap index was down by 0.45%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.53%, TECK up by 0.44% and FMCG was up by 0.14%, while Metal down by 1.65%, Power down by 0.77%, Realty down by 0.71%, Telecom down by 0.67% and PSU was down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.32%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.15%, Reliance Industries up by 1.08%, ICICI Bank up by 0.68% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.66%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.49%, SBI down by 2.04%, Tata Steel down by 1.70%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.18% and Tata Motors down by 0.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) deflated for the fourth straight month in July at (-) 1.36% as against (-) 4.12% recorded in June, 2023, due to fall in the prices of Minerals, Mineral oils, and Electricity.

The Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased 8.05% to 190.5 (provisional) in July 2023 from 176.3 (provisional) for the month of June 2023. Prices of Food Articles, Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas and Non-food Articles increased in July 2023 as compared to June 2023. However, prices of Minerals declined in July 2023 as compared to June 2023.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined 0.48% to 145.3 (provisional) in July 2023 from 146.0 (provisional) for the month of June 2023. Prices of Coal increased in July 2023 as compared to June 2023, while prices of Electricity and Mineral Oils declined in July 2023 as compared to June 2023.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, declined by 0.29% to 139.6 (provisional) in July 2023 from 140.0 (provisional) for the month of June 2023. Meanwhile, for the month of May, 2023 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 149.4 and (-) 3.61% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19434.05, up by 5.75 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 19257.90 and 19437.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were LTIMindtree up by 1.76%, Infosys up by 1.42%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.20%, Reliance Industries up by 1.11% and ONGC up by 0.90%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 2.58%, Adani Enterprises down by 2.52%, Hindalco down by 2.17%, SBI down by 2.05% and Apollo Hospital down by 2.04% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 413.74 points or 1.29% to 32,059.91, Hang Seng declined 301.64 points or 1.61% to 18,773.55, Taiwan Weighted lost 207.59 points or 1.27% to 16,393.66, Straits Times fell 47.51 points or 1.44% to 3,246.77, KOSPI dropped 20.39 points or 0.79% to 2,570.87 and Shanghai Composite was down by 10.82 points or 0.34% to 3,178.43. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 14.27 points or 0.21% to 6,894.25.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC rose 16.96 points or 0.23% to 7,357.15 and Germany’s DAX was up by 80.81 points or 0.51% to 15,912.98. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 9.67 points or 0.13% to 7,514.49.