Sensex, Nifty trade in red during early afternoon deals

Indian equity benchmarks were lingering below their neutral lines in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and nifty trading in red, on the back of selling at IT and TECK counters. Among the prominent decliners, HCL Tech and TCS were down around 1 percent each. Traders remained reluctant to make significant moves. However, downside remained capped, as the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India is collaborating with the various ecommerce players to leverage the Districts as Export Hubs initiative and promote ecommerce exports from the country. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even as Japan's leading index declined less than initially estimated in September. The latest data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, fell to 108.9 in September from 109.2 in the previous month. In the initial estimate, the score was 108.7. On the other hand, the coincident index that measures the current economic situation edged up to 114.7 from 114.6 a month ago. That was in line with the flash data.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66007.87, down by 9.94 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 65937.66 and 66101.64. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.39%, while Small cap index was up by 0.33%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.85%, Healthcare up by 0.73%, Industrials up by 0.67%, PSU up by 0.64% and Utilities up by 0.59%, while IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.52%, FMCG down by 0.31%, Consumer Durables down by 0.09% and Oil & Gas down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 0.93%, Axis Bank up by 0.92%, NTPC up by 0.89%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.46% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.43%. On the flip side, HCL Tech. down by 1.14%, TCS down by 0.97%, Wipro down by 0.80%, Tata Motors down by 0.79% and Nestle down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the sale of personal loan retail pools may see a temporary pause after the RBI’s decision to increase the risk weights on unsecured asset classes of banks and nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) by 25 per cent. The sale of personal loan pools by NBFCs amounted to about Rs 1,150 crore in FY 2023 and had already crossed Rs 800 crore in H1 FY2024 (i.e. 4x of the volumes done in H1 FY2023).

According to the report, such transactions had picked up momentum, given the growing financing requirements for the NBFCs to meet the strong credit demand for consumer and personal loans in the country, coupled with the growing appetite for personal loan asset class by the banks that were purchasing these loan pools. It expects the pace of personal loan selldowns to taper at least in the near term, following the increase in capital requirements on such loans for the purchasing banks, which would, thereby, augment the costs for all parties.

It further said while securitisation in the personal and consumer loan category could see some slowdown for the interim period, the report, however, does not foresee any material impact on the overall domestic securitisation volumes as this asset class forms only about 3 per cent of the total securitisation volumes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19801.45, down by 0.55 points after trading in a range of 19786.60 and 19832.85. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 2.58%, Divi's Lab up by 1.94%, Hindalco up by 1.70%, Axis Bank up by 0.94% and JSW Steel up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 1.46%, HCL Tech. down by 1.16%, Wipro down by 1.12%, TCS down by 1.01% and Nestle down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 322.77 points or 1.84% to 17,588.07, Taiwan Weighted lost 7.13 points or 0.04% to 17,287.42, Straits Times fell 19.05 points or 0.62% to 3,095.87, Shanghai Composite weakened 19.76 points or 0.65% to 3,042.10 and KOSPI dropped 18.33 points or 0.73% to 2,496.63, while  Jakarta Composite gained 15.24 points or 0.22% to 7,019.58 and Nikkei 225 surged 173.7 points or 0.52% to 33,625.53.