Benchmarks trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading in red terrain in morning deals as investors retreated to the sidelines amid unabated foreign fund outflows and escalating tensions in the Middle East. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,761.86 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. Traders took a note of a private report that India and the UK don’t expect a free trade agreement to be announced until after state elections in the South Asian nation are completed in December. There are still some differences around whether taxation will be included in a proposed investment protection pact, as well as the UK’s demand that tariffs be cut on electric vehicle exports to India. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors looked ahead to a data-heavy week headlined by the Federal Reserve meeting. A cautious undertone prevailed after Israel refused any ceasefire in its war against Hamas. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 63976.78, down by 135.87 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 63923.60 and 64452.32. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.37%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.27%, Telecom up by 0.47%, Utilities up by 0.43%, PSU up by 0.18% and Consumer discretionary up by 0.17%, while TECK down by 0.51%, Metal down by 0.47%, Oil & Gas down by 0.42%, IT down by 0.36% and Energy down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 0.86%, SBI up by 0.58%, Asian Paints up by 0.56%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.54% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.97%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.97%, Infosys down by 0.82% and Titan Company down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam has said a vision document is being prepared for India to become a developed economy of about $30 trillion by 2047. The vision document will outline the institutional and structural changes/ reforms that will be needed for the country to become a developed nation by 2047.

He stated the draft Vision India 2047 will be ready by December 2023 and it will be presented before the country in the next three months.  According to him, the vision document will also identify sectors, technologies where India can be a world leader/ global champion.

He mentioned ‘A vision plan is being prepared for India to become a developed economy of about $30 trillion ($29.2 trillion) by 2047... the whole purpose of the vision document is to avoid the middle-income trap.’ He also said ‘We are worried about the middle-income trap... India has to cut through the poverty thing and middle-income trap.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19103.50, down by 37.40 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 19089.50 and 19233.70. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI Life Insurance up by 2.39%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.45%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.30%, Tata Motors up by 0.77% and Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 0.69%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 2.82%, ONGC down by 1.46%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.07%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.05% and Britannia Industries down by 0.93% were the top losers. 

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 133.32 points or 0.83% to 16,016.36, Hang Seng declined 308.85 points or 1.81% to 17,097.51, Straits Times fell 0.62 points or 0.02% to 3,063.67, KOSPI dropped 29.13 points or 1.28% to 2,281.42, Jakarta Composite plunged 30.02 points or 0.45% to 6,705.87 and Shanghai Composite weakened 11.58 points or 0.38% to 3,009.97.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 115.36 points or 0.37% to 30,812.32.