Markets magnify losses in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices expanded their losses and traded near low points of day in late morning deals as market participants indulged in reducing their positions. Selling in Infosys, Larsen & Toubro and TCS companies’ stocks pressured the markets to magnify their losses. Traders were cautious amid concerns over the impact of rising oil prices on economic growth. Depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar too weighed down sentiments. Rupee weakened by 17 paise to 83.11 against the dollar at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange market on account of increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks. Traders took note of report that S&P Global Ratings retained India's growth forecast for current fiscal at 6 per cent citing slowing world economy, rising risk of subnormal monsoons and delayed effect of rate hike. It sees the recent spike in vegetable price inflation as being temporary, but revised up the full fiscal retail inflation forecast to 5.5 per cent, from 5 per cent earlier, on higher global oil prices.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors looked toward inflation data from across the region this week. Singapore and Australia are expected to report inflation figures for August this week, while Japan will release inflation data for the Tokyo region. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Consumer Durables and Healthcare, while selling was witnessed in Capital Goods, TECK, IT, Industrials and PSU.  In the stock specific development, Bajaj Finance advanced after the company announced that the board will meet next week to consider fund raising plan by way of preferential issue or qualified institutions placement (QIP). 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65803.92, down by 205.23 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 65796.37 and 66118.56. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.35%, while Small cap index up by 0.05%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.50% and Healthcare up by 0.07%, while Capital Goods down by 0.94%, TECK down by 0.92%, IT down by 0.88%, Industrials down by 0.69% and PSU down by 0.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 4.25%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.39%, Asian Paints up by 1.11%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.73% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.52%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.30%, Indusind Bank down by 1.14%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.10% and Axis Bank down by 1.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth has said that digital public infrastructure (DPI) has led to savings of over $27 billion in government schemes, and achieve greater financial inclusion in a short period. He noted that the use of direct benefit transfer (DBT) in the last one decade has ensured money reached to targeted beneficiaries and bogus accounts are weeded out. This has helped in huge savings of taxpayers' money.

Sharing India's success story on the financial inclusion front, Seth said India has achieved 80 per cent account opening penetration from 20 per cent within a span of 7-8 years with DPI, which would have taken 47 years in the normal course as per a study by the Bank of International Settlements. He said ‘we developed a solution approach for delivering best-in-class services to the last mile and even in the most remote parts of the country. 

He further said since the launch of the digital identity number, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana PMJDY in 2014, over 500 million bank accounts have been opened’. Out of this, 56 per cent of bank account holders are women, and 67 per cent of accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas. The average balance in these accounts is over Rs 4,000. He also said ‘our digital payment systems' UPI crossed 10 billion only in the month of August alone. Today, more than 5.5 crore Jan Dhan accounts are receiving direct benefit transfers, and government schemes have already made savings of over $27 billion’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19608.05, down by 66.20 points or 0.34% after trading in a range of 19601.55 and 19713.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 4.36%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.44%, Tata Consumer up by 1.29%, Asian Paints up by 0.94% and UPL up by 0.94%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insuran down by 1.68%, Infosys down by 1.54%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.37%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.29% and TCS down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 239.75 points or 1.35% to 17,817.70, Shanghai Composite weakened 12.76 points or 0.41% to 3,119.67, Jakarta Composite plunged 4.17 points or 0.06% to 7,012.67 and KOSPI dropped 12.67 points or 0.51% to 2,495.46. However, Nikkei 225 surged 286.56 points or 0.88% to 32,688.97, Taiwan Weighted added 121.54 points or 0.74% to 16,466.02 and Straits Times rose 10.41 points or 0.32% to 3,215.23.