Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Monday’s trading session in negative terrain, led by losses in Media and Metals stocks. After making a cautious start, soon index slipped into red terrain, as traders were cautious with the Reserve Bank of India’s data (October 2023 bulletin) stating that net foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, inflows minus outflows, declined sharply in April-August this year to $2.99 billion from $18.03 billion in the same period last year on moderation in global activities and a rise in repatriation. Traders took note of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that even though India’s debt levels are not very high compared global average, the Central government is looking at ways to bring down the liabilities so as not to burden future generations.
In afternoon session, index continued to trade on a lower note, as sentiments remained cautious after Shashanka Bhide, one of the three external members on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said that trade-related measures to improve domestic supply could help cool down food inflation only in the short run. Further, sharp selling witnessed in the last leg of trade dragged the index near day’s low point to end with losses of 260.90 points.
All the sectorial indices ended in red. The top gainers from the F&O segment were IPCA Laboratories, United Breweries and Aurobindo Pharma. On the other hand, the top losers were Laurus Labs, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Hindustan Copper. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 19500 - 19700 calls and 18900 - 19100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
