Bourses trade at day’s low levels in late afternoon session

Key benchmark indices traded near day’s low levels in late afternoon session led by losses in IT sector’s stocks. Traders wait cautiously for speeches from ECB president Christine Lagarde and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Traders overlooked report that Moody's Investors Service retained India's economic growth forecast for 2023 at 6.7 per cent and said strong domestic demand will likely sustain the growth in the near term. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve's rate hike path and signs of intensifying downward pressures on prices in China. European markets were trading higher as positive earnings updates offset hawkish comments from Fed and ECB officials.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64822.87, down by 152.74 points or 0.24% after trading in a range of 64820.73 and 65046.56. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.11%, while Small cap index was down by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.52%, Auto up by 0.82%, Healthcare up by 0.59%, Metal up by 0.37% and Utilities was up by 0.33%, while IT down by 0.82%, Oil & Gas down by 0.77%, TECK down by 0.77%, FMCG down by 0.72% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.70% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.68%, Indusind Bank up by 1.31%, Tata Motors up by 0.95%, Power Grid up by 0.85% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.58%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.54%, Infosys down by 1.34%, Reliance Industries down by 1.20% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost bilateral trade and conserve foreign exchange, India has urged Ethiopia to explore the possibility of settlement of trade transactions in local currency. During 6th Session of India-Ethiopia Joint Trade Committee, both sides agreed to expeditiously address all issues impeding bilateral trade and facilitate trade promotion between the two countries. Further, India invited the Ethiopia to collaborate on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with Ethswitch of Ethiopia.

Both sides undertook a detailed review of recent developments in bilateral trade and investment ties and noted that the relationship has a huge potential to be scaled up even further.  To this effect, both sides identified several areas of focus for enhancing both bilateral trade as well as mutually beneficial investments. These include health and pharmaceuticals, automobiles, textiles, infrastructure projects, food and agro processing and so on. 

Both sides also reviewed the progress of ongoing discussions for Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in the field of Standardization & Quality assurance and Customs procedure and agreed to conclude them expeditiously. India also requested the Ethiopia to expedite the early finalization of the Bilateral Investment Treaty.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19401.95, down by 41.55 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 19394.20 and 19463.90. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.63%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.99%, Coal India up by 1.80%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.62% and Indusind Bank up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 1.89%, Adani Ports down by 1.80%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.71%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.59% and Tata Consumer down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 479.98 points or 1.47% to 32,646.46, Jakarta Composite gained 36.08 points or 0.53% to 6,840.19, KOSPI increased 5.46 points or 0.22% to 2,427.08, Taiwan Weighted added 4.82 points or 0.03% to 16,745.65, Straits Times rose 1.5 points or 0.05% to 3,131.22 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.91 points or 0.03% to 3,053.28. On the flip side, Hang Seng was down by 57.17 points or 0.33% to 17,511.29. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.45 points or 0.01% to 7,402.17, France’s CAC rose 29.1 points or 0.41% to 7,063.26 and Germany’s DAX was up by 16.87 points or 0.11% to 15,246.47.