Bourses continue sluggish trade in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their sluggish trade in late afternoon session as the risk of escalating conflict in the Middle East threatened to disrupt oil supplies from the region, with Iran calling for an oil embargo to be imposed on Israel. Besides, IT sector’s stocks edged lower after Wipro reported almost flat growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,667.30 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2023 as compared to Rs 2,649.10 crore for the same quarter in the previous year on a weak global economic outlook. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red after the U.S. tightened restrictions on China's semiconductor industry, and troubled property developer Country Garden missed a US$15 million coupon repayment. European markets were trading lower as a raft of dismal corporate earnings, including from packaged food giant Nestle, worsened an already risk-averse mood, driven by jitters around the Middle East war and uncertainty over interest rates. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 65756.63, down by 120.39 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 65343.50 and 65869.65. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.11%, while Small cap index was up by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.58%, Consumer Durables up by 0.40%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.23%, Capital Goods up by 0.10% and Telecom was up by 0.07%, while Metal down by 0.91%, Basic Materials down by 0.53%, Realty down by 0.47%, Energy down by 0.47% and Oil & Gas was down by 0.43% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 3.39%, Indusind Bank up by 1.77%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.56%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.40% and Tata Motors up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.12%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.02%, Tata Steel down by 0.98%, NTPC down by 0.91% and Sun Pharma down by 0.90% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti Prahlad Singh Patel has said that India is one of the fastest-growing economies with many investment opportunities, especially in the food processing sector. The minister also noted that World Food India event is an effort towards projecting potential of the sector before global stakeholders. 

He pointed out that the event is a unique example of whole of the Government collaborative approach, as 11 central Ministries/ Departments & their associated autonomous bodies are participating in it. Besides, Patel said so far 23 States/UTs and exhibitors from 16 countries have consented to participate in the event & more stakeholders are likely to be on boarded in remaining days of the event.

The Minister further apprised of the wide international representation in the event & about 10 overseas Ministerial & official delegations from many countries are participating in the event. He said a Reverse Buyer Seller Meet is also being organized in association with Department of Commerce & its associated commodity boards as part of the event & it is likely to have participation of about 1000 overseas buyers from more than 75 countries. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19644.80, down by 26.30 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 19512.35 and 19681.80. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 6.57%, LTIMindtree up by 5.60%, Nestle up by 3.41%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.69% and Indusind Bank up by 1.85%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.13%, UPL down by 1.21%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.07%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.05% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 611.63 points or 1.95% to 31,430.62, Hang Seng declined 436.63 points or 2.52% to 17,295.89, Jakarta Composite plunged 80.42 points or 1.16% to 6,847.49, Shanghai Composite weakened 53.32 points or 1.77% to 3,005.39, KOSPI dropped 46.80 points or 1.94% to 2,415.80 and Straits Times was down by 38.43 points or 1.23% to 3,098.19. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was up by 11.82 points or 0.07% to 16,452.73.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 84.18 points or 1.11% to 7,503.82, France’s CAC fell 61.38 points or 0.88% to 6,904.61 and Germany’s DAX was down by 68.21 points or 0.45% to 15,026.70.