Domestic indices extend opening losses in early deals; IT stocks led losers

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening on Friday tracking weakness in global peers amid a high risk off sentiment on surging bond yields. Domestic markets tried to come off their lows but soon extend their losses and are trading under pressure with cut of around 0.45% each in early deals. Selling in IT stocks mainly dragged the markets lower. Foreign fund outflows dented sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth net Rs 1,510.86 crore on August 17. Traders were concerned as the Reserve Bank of India's monthly bulletin said headline inflation is expected to average well above 6 per cent in the second quarter. It noted headline inflation, after reaching a low of 4.3 per cent in May 2023, rose in June and is expected to surge during July-August led by vegetable prices. 

On the global front, Asian markets are trading lower following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, on renewed concerns over a Chinese economic slowdown and fears of a debt meltdown in the country's property sector. China's second-largest property developer, the embattled China Evergrande Group, has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York. Back home, in stock specific movement, Yatharth Hospital surged on posting a 73 per cent on-year jump in net profit to Rs 19 crore for the June quarter. In primary market, Pyramid Technoplast, a Rs 153 crore IPO opens for subscription today. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64866.81, down by 284.21 points or 0.44% after trading in a range of 64853.40 and 65042.68. 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 0.08%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 0.90%, Utilities up by 0.77%, Capital Goods up by 0.39%, Industrials up by 0.31%, Bankex up by 0.07%, while IT down by 1.18%, TECK down by 1.02%, Energy down by 0.57%, Metal down by 0.45%, Oil & Gas down by 0.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 0.52%, Axis Bank up by 0.51%, Tata Motors up by 0.47%, ICICI Bank up by 0.17% and NTPC up by 0.16%. On the flip side, TCS down by 1.86%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.58%, Wipro down by 1.56%, HCL Technologies down by 1.32% and Infosys down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has forecasted that the digital economy will contribute more than 20 per cent of India’s GDP in 2026. He said India is a preeminent nation that adopted technology very fast and has started offering solutions to the world. He noted that the digital economy gone from 4-4.5 per cent in 2014 of the total GDP to 11 per cent of the total GDP currently, and it is expected that the digital economy to contribute over 20 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2026.

According to him, India adopted technology not just for innovation in a broader sense, but to deliver real solutions that have transformed people's lives, governance and democracy in the last few years. He said ‘this pace of digitalisation means we are now looking at every citizen, every consumer consuming digital products or services, whether it is Instagram reels or Digital Public Infrastructure that connect them to the government and governance, or using the cloud and all of the upstream and downstream impacts that are created by this space and trend of digitalisation’.

Chandrasekhar said 'the centre of gravity of tech', which used to be in a few countries and centred around a few corporations and a few companies is moving to open source systems to younger and younger startups that are disrupting the normal. According to him, these trends are in turn capitalising on the broader trend of increased digitisation. Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his vision of maximum usage of digital technology, the Minister said he had called the coming decade as a 'Techade', a decade of technology opportunities.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19274.55, down by 90.70 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 19271.80 and 19329.75. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.93%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.61%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.57%, Cipla up by 0.55% and Axis Bank up by 0.44%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 1.79%, TCS down by 1.71%, Wipro down by 1.69%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.52% and HCL Technologies down by 1.37% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng declined 204.08 points or 1.13% to 18,122.55, Nikkei 225 slipped 161.16 points or 0.51% to 31,464.84, Taiwan Weighted lost 73.41 points or 0.45% to 16,443.25, Jakarta Composite plunged 30.86 points or 0.45% to 6,869.68, Straits Times fell 22.97 points or 0.72% to 3,173.78, KOSPI dropped 13.38 points or 0.53% to 2,506.47 and Shanghai Composite was down by 1.77 points or 0.06% to 3,161.97.