Domestic indices remain in red in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices remained in red and were trading with cut of around half a percent in late morning deals on account of selling by funds and retail investors.  selling in Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints and Infosys companies’ stocks dragged the markets lower. Traders were cautious as Fitch Ratings said the geopolitical uncertainty from the conflict in Middle East could upend countries’ inflation and growth calculations, leading to a higher than expected inflation for India as well. It stated higher oil prices would lead to higher-than-expected inflation rates in 2024, followed by corrections in 2025. Turkiye sees the highest percentage point rise in forecast inflation, followed by India and Poland. However, the India and Poland’s relative increases would be much large. Further, foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 190.06 crore on November 12.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as investors looked to more economic data ahead of high-stakes talks between the U.S. and China. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up position in Metal, Utilities, PSU, Power and Energy, while selling was witnessed in IT, Consumer Durables, TECK, Healthcare and FMCG. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 64919.18, down by 340.27 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 64853.36 and 65176.96. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.21%, while Small cap index down by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.89%, Utilities up by 0.84%, PSU up by 0.83%, Power up by 0.52% and Energy up by 0.35%, while IT down by 0.76%, Consumer Durables down by 0.74%, TECK down by 0.67%, Healthcare down by 0.50% and FMCG down by 0.47% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.84%, Power Grid up by 0.85%, Indusind Bank up by 0.30% and JSW Steel up by 0.05%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.17%, ICICI Bank down by 0.94%, Asian Paints down by 0.90%, Infosys down by 0.81% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.79% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, external Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar has said India's trade with Africa today is in excess of $100 billion and is fairly evenly balanced. He said ‘27 African least developed countries (LDC) benefit from our duty-free tariff preferences and our expectation is that this trade will easily double in the coming decade. It's not just trade, India is among the top five investors in Africa. Our estimated capital today is in excess of $80 billion.’ 

EAM noted that in the last decade, a bulk of Indian embassies have also opened in Africa. And not just Embassies, the first Indian Institute of Technology abroad opened in Africa. The first Forensic Sciences University abroad opened in Africa. He said ‘so I don't need to stress to you today what is the importance that we attach, not just to our relationship but to the promise of those ties that we are actually betting on your future as well. And we see in our relationship actually a very, very powerful force that would rebalance the global polity, which in our view has been skewed over the last two centuries’.

Talking on the African Union's permanent membership in the G20, Jaishankar said ‘this is something that has been deliberated for many years. This was not the first G20 when it came up for discussion, but we were very determined that unlike previous G20s, this will not end with a discussion, that we were very clear we will have an outcome, and as G20 chair, we took that lead, very confident that once somebody determinedly takes that lead and puts it firmly before the international community, it is something that was bound to happen, and we were glad we were proved right.’ 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19436.55, down by 89.00 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 19414.75 and 19494.40. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 3.95%, Eicher Motors up by 2.09%, NTPC up by 1.82%, BPCL up by 0.86% and Power Grid up by 0.80%. On the flip side, SBI Life down by 1.49%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.13%, ICICI Bank down by 0.95%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.94% and Asian Paints down by 0.94% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 0.49 points or 0% to 17,202.77, KOSPI dropped 2.04 points or 0.08% to 2,407.62 and Shanghai Composite weakened 1.64 points or 0.05% to 3,037.33. However, Nikkei 225 surged 7.96 points or 0.02% to 32,576.07, Taiwan Weighted added 156.62 points or 0.94% to 16,839.29 and Jakarta Composite gained 32.12 points or 0.47% to 6,841.38.