Bourses trade near neutral lines in late afternoon session

The Indian benchmarks recouped from early losses in late afternoon session. Currently, markets traded near neutral lines with positive bias. Losses were contained after private report stated that India's merchandise trade deficit fell to a five-month low of $19.37 billion in September. While goods exports last month stood at $34.47 billion, imports were at $53.84 billion. In August, India's merchandise trade deficit amounted to $24.16 billion, with exports at $34.48 billion and imports at $58.64 billion. On the global front, all Asian markets are trading lower as stronger-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data revived fears about further interest rate rises. European markets were trading lower as investors react to Chinese data and await directional cues from the U.S. earnings season. China's exports and imports shrank at a slower pace for a second month in September. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66417.65, up by 9.26 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 65895.41 and 66478.05. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.15%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.76%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.48%, FMCG up by 0.40% and Healthcare was up by 0.33%, while IT down by 0.63%, TECK down by 0.53%, Bankex down by 0.21%, Basic Materials down by 0.19% and Metal was down by 0.03% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 4.34%, Indusind Bank up by 2.49%, HCL Tech. up by 2.36%, Nestle up by 1.91% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.31%, SBI down by 1.30%, Wipro down by 1.21%, Axis Bank down by 0.85% and JSW Steel down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest survey report has showed that exports of software services by Indian companies (excluding their sales through overseas commercial presence) increased by 18.4 per cent during 2022-23 to $185.5 billion. It also noted that computer services accounted for over two-thirds of total software services exports during the year; BPO services remained the main component of ITES exports.

As per the survey on ‘Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services Exports: 2022-23’, private limited companies accounted for 56.1 per cent of the total exports of software services during the year though they recorded lower growth of 10.9 per cent when compared with 31.8 per cent rise in software exports by public limited companies.

RBI Survey further stated that exports to all major regions improved during the year; the United States of America (USA) was the destination of nearly 55 per cent of India’s software exports followed by Europe (31 per cent), where the United Kingdom (UK) had a large share. The US dollar was the dominant invoicing currency for India’s software exports, followed by the Euro, the Rupee and the Pound Sterling.

Besides, the survey report showed that total exports of software services, including services delivered by foreign affiliates of Indian companies, increased by 16.7 per cent during 2022-23 to $200.6 billion; local software business by such affiliates amounted to $15.1 billion during the year, with the USA and the UK remaining the major destinations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19798.50, up by 4.50 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 19635.30 and 19805.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.45%, Indusind Bank up by 2.55%, HCL Tech up by 2.40%, Nestle up by 1.99% and Tata Consumer up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.42%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.74%, SBI down by 1.25%, Wipro down by 1.22% and Axis Bank down by 1.03% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Jakarta Composite plunged 14.49 points or 0.21% to 6,920.66, Shanghai Composite weakened 19.8 points or 0.64% to 3,088.10, KOSPI dropped 23.67 points or 0.96% to 2,456.15, Straits Times fell 32.93 points or 1.02% to 3,185.76, Taiwan Weighted lost 43.34 points or 0.26% to 16,782.57, Nikkei 225 slipped 178.67 points or 0.55% to 32,315.99 and Hang Seng was down by 424.76 points or 2.38% to 17,813.45.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 16.17 points or 0.21% to 7,628.61, France’s CAC fell 26.52 points or 0.37% to 7,078.01 and Germany’s DAX was down by 67.79 points or 0.44% to 15,357.24.