Weak trade continues over Dalal Street

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading below their neutral lines, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Also, with the Federal Reserve scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Wednesday, investors appear a bit reluctant to make significant moves. The street overlooked reports that Fitch Ratings upwardly revised the global growth forecast for 2023 by 10 basis points to 2.5 per cent, reflecting surprising resilience so far this year in the US, Japan, and emerging markets excluding China.

Sentiments were downbeat, as the commerce ministry in its latest data has said that India’s merchandise exports declined 6.86 per cent to $34.48 billion, the seventh month in a row, in August 2023 as compared to $37.02 billion in August 2022, due to a fall in shipments from key sectors like petroleum and gems and jewellery on subdued global demand.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) were down 3.8 percent on month in August. That missed expectations for an increase of 5.6 percent following the downwardly revised 3.5 percent contraction in July (originally -3.4 percent). On a yearly basis, exports slumped 20.1 percent - again missing forecasts for a decline of 15/8 percent after stumbling a downwardly revised 20.3 percent in the previous month (originally -20-2 percent).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 67724.47, down by 114.16 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 67552.03 and 67803.15. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.08%, while Small cap index was down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.24%, Auto up by 0.98%, Utilities up by 0.84%, Consumer Durables up by 0.69% and Power up by 0.54%, while Telecom down by 0.89%, Realty down by 0.80%, Metal down by 0.62%, TECK down by 0.56% and IT down by 0.54% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, Titan Company up by 1.61%, Power Grid Corporation of India up by 1.26%, NTPC up by 1.23% and SBI up by 1.20%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 1.44%, Infosys down by 1.22%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.06%, Wipro down by 0.82% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its data has showed that the India’s imports from Russia almost doubled to $25.69 billion during the April-August period this fiscal (FY24) due to increasing inbound shipments of crude oil and fertiliser. With this, Russia has become India's second-largest import source during the first five months of this fiscal. The imports were $13.77 billion during April-August 2022.

According to the data, from a market share of less than 1 per cent in India's import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia's share of India's oil imports rose to over 40 per cent. India, the world's third-largest crude importer after China and the United States, has been buying Russian oil that was available at a discount after some in the West shunned it as a means of punishing Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine. Imports from China dipped to $42 billion during the period against $43.96 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, imports from the US declined to $18 billion during the period under review from $21.86 billion in April-August 2022. Imports from UAE too contracted to $17 billion during April-August 2023 compared to $22.32 billion a year ago. 

On the export front, India's exports to six of its top 10 destinations have recorded a negative growth rate during the period. During the first five months of this fiscal, the country's merchandise exports to the US, UAE, China, Singapore, Germany, and Bangladesh have dipped. However, exports to the UK, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia have recorded positive growth. India's exports declined 6.86 per cent to $34.48 billion, the seventh month in a row, in August this year due to a fall in shipments from key sectors like petroleum and gems and jewellery on subdued global demand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20178.10, down by 14.25 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 20121.65 and 20195.35. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.70%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.46%, BPCL up by 1.86%, Titan Company up by 1.75% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.62%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 1.49%, HDFC Bank down by 1.43%, Infosys down by 1.13%, Dr Reddy's Laboratories down by 1.12% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 222.68 points or 1.33% to 16,698.24, KOSPI dropped 26.56 points or 1.03% to 2,574.72, Hang Seng declined 184.18 points or 1.01% to 17,998.71, Jakarta Composite plunged 30.07 points or 0.43% to 6,952.72 and Straits Times fell 12.7 points or 0.39% to 3,267.99, while Shanghai Composite strengthened 6.15 points or 0.2% to 3,123.89.