Benchmarks continue to trade in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some losses but continued to trade in red in morning deals, amid weak trends in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,831.84 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Disappointing earnings from IT services company Wipro also dragged the benchmarks lower. Traders took a note of report that the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has detected tax evasion amounting to Rs 1.36 trillion in the current financial year, recovering Rs 14,108 crore. This figure includes 1,040 cases of bogus input tax credit, valued at Rs 14,000 crore. So far, 91 individuals involved in fraud have been apprehended. 

However, some losses got trimmed as private report expects GDP growth in the current fiscal to be in the range of 6.5-6.8 per cent primarily due to upcoming festive spending as well as higher government expenditure before the national elections mid-next year.  On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower as investors react to a continued sell-off in Treasuries and increased geopolitical tensions. Iran urged Muslim countries to sanction Israel amid an emergency meeting of members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65551.97, down by 325.05 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 65343.50 and 65595.25. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Auto up by 0.01%, while Metal down by 1.48%, Energy down by 0.82%, Realty down by 0.79%, Oil & Gas down by 0.69% and Power down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.58%, HCL Technologies up by 0.39%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.27% and ITC up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.22%, Tata Steel down by 1.57%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.50%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.19% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with lackluster demand from the US, EU and China, rating agency Crisil has said that India's diamond polishing industry will see its revenue drop by 30-35 per cent to $14-15 billion in current fiscal. It highlighted that these three geographies account for 75 per cent of India's polished diamond exports. Rahul Guha, Director, Crisil Ratings said ‘Israel imports $1.25 billion worth of polished diamonds annually from India. With the country now declaring a war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, this number could be at risk’.

He said there is some increase in demand in the second half of every fiscal from festivities such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Chinese New Year, but this is unlikely to provide a significant offset this time. He noted ‘Consequently, we see the Indian diamond industry shrinking by over a third on an annualised basis this fiscal’. According to Crisil, with the inventory of higher-cost polished diamonds piling up to over four months of sales, profitability of polishers will be chiselled 50-100 basis points amid lower retail prices. The silver lining is that a shrinking business translates to reduced debt, which will offset the pressure on credit risk profiles of diamond polishers. This was indicated in a study of 46 diamond companies rated by Crisil that account for over a fifth of the Rs 180,000 crore industry by revenues as of last fiscal year.

Crisil further said demand for polished diamonds started weakening since last fiscal amid slowing economic activity leading to a volumetric drop of 25 per cent. But worries about supply of rough diamonds following western sanctions on Russian mining major Alrosa supported prices. Polished diamond price on an average was up nearly 10 per cent last fiscal on-year. This helped arrest the decline in India's polished diamonds exports to $22 billion last fiscal from $24.2 billion in fiscal 2022.  In 2023-24, Crisil said ‘not only has demand fallen further in major markets, but also there has been no disruption in the supply of roughs’. Consequently, prices of roughs have corrected, leading to polished diamonds getting cheaper by 10-15 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19571.75, down by 99.35 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 19512.35 and 19594.95. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.52%, LTIMindtree up by 4.14%, Indusind Bank up by 2.61%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.15% and BPCL up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.23%, Coal India down by 2.27%, Hindalco down by 1.69%, Tata Steel down by 1.65% and Tata Consumer Products down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 539.34 points or 1.68% to 31,502.91, Hang Seng declined 345.77 points or 1.99% to 17,386.75, Straits Times fell 35.65 points or 1.14% to 3,100.97, KOSPI dropped 44.21 points or 1.8% to 2,418.39, Jakarta Composite plunged 53.34 points or 0.77% to 6,874.57 and Shanghai Composite weakened 37.16 points or 1.23% to 3,021.55, while Taiwan Weighted added 14.61 points or 0.09% to 16,455.52.

Indian equity benchmarks trimmed some losses but continued to trade in red in morning deals, amid weak trends in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,831.84 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Disappointing earnings from IT services company Wipro also dragged the benchmarks lower. Traders took a note of report that the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has detected tax evasion amounting to Rs 1.36 trillion in the current financial year, recovering Rs 14,108 crore. This figure includes 1,040 cases of bogus input tax credit, valued at Rs 14,000 crore. So far, 91 individuals involved in fraud have been apprehended. 

However, some losses got trimmed as private report expects GDP growth in the current fiscal to be in the range of 6.5-6.8 per cent primarily due to upcoming festive spending as well as higher government expenditure before the national elections mid-next year.  On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as investors react to a continued sell-off in Treasuries and increased geopolitical tensions. Iran urged Muslim countries to sanction Israel amid an emergency meeting of members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65551.97, down by 325.05 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 65343.50 and 65595.25. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.48%, while Small cap index was down by 0.05%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Auto up by 0.01%, while Metal down by 1.48%, Energy down by 0.82%, Realty down by 0.79%, Oil & Gas down by 0.69% and Power down by 0.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 2.58%, HCL Technologies up by 0.39%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.27% and ITC up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.22%, Tata Steel down by 1.57%, Power Grid Corporation down by 1.50%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.19% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with lackluster demand from the US, EU and China, rating agency Crisil has said that India's diamond polishing industry will see its revenue drop by 30-35 per cent to $14-15 billion in current fiscal. It highlighted that these three geographies account for 75 per cent of India's polished diamond exports. Rahul Guha, Director, Crisil Ratings said ‘Israel imports $1.25 billion worth of polished diamonds annually from India. With the country now declaring a war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, this number could be at risk’.

He said there is some increase in demand in the second half of every fiscal from festivities such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Chinese New Year, but this is unlikely to provide a significant offset this time. He noted ‘Consequently, we see the Indian diamond industry shrinking by over a third on an annualised basis this fiscal’. According to Crisil, with the inventory of higher-cost polished diamonds piling up to over four months of sales, profitability of polishers will be chiselled 50-100 basis points amid lower retail prices. The silver lining is that a shrinking business translates to reduced debt, which will offset the pressure on credit risk profiles of diamond polishers. This was indicated in a study of 46 diamond companies rated by Crisil that account for over a fifth of the Rs 180,000 crore industry by revenues as of last fiscal year.

Crisil further said demand for polished diamonds started weakening since last fiscal amid slowing economic activity leading to a volumetric drop of 25 per cent. But worries about supply of rough diamonds following western sanctions on Russian mining major Alrosa supported prices. Polished diamond price on an average was up nearly 10 per cent last fiscal on-year. This helped arrest the decline in India's polished diamonds exports to $22 billion last fiscal from $24.2 billion in fiscal 2022.  In 2023-24, Crisil said ‘not only has demand fallen further in major markets, but also there has been no disruption in the supply of roughs’. Consequently, prices of roughs have corrected, leading to polished diamonds getting cheaper by 10-15 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19571.75, down by 99.35 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 19512.35 and 19594.95. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 4.52%, LTIMindtree up by 4.14%, Indusind Bank up by 2.61%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.15% and BPCL up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.23%, Coal India down by 2.27%, Hindalco down by 1.69%, Tata Steel down by 1.65% and Tata Consumer Products down by 1.47% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 539.34 points or 1.68% to 31,502.91, Hang Seng declined 345.77 points or 1.99% to 17,386.75, Straits Times fell 35.65 points or 1.14% to 3,100.97, KOSPI dropped 44.21 points or 1.8% to 2,418.39, Jakarta Composite plunged 53.34 points or 0.77% to 6,874.57 and Shanghai Composite weakened 37.16 points or 1.23% to 3,021.55, while Taiwan Weighted added 14.61 points or 0.09% to 16,455.52.