Weak trade persists over Dalal Street

Weak trade continued over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading lower, amid selling at Metal and FMCG counters. Also, negative cues from the other Asian markets dampened the sentiments, as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs report on Friday. Some concerns came amid a private report stating that hiring activity for white-collar jobs witnessed a 12 per cent on-year decline during October-November largely due to fall in recruitment trends in IT-Software, telecom and education sectors.

However, losses remained capped, after Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Som Parkash said that the Startup India initiative was launched by the Government to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation, startups and encouraging investments in the startup ecosystem of the country. Besides, NITI Aayog vice chairman Suman Bery said that India has potential to grow at 8 per cent as the country is labour-rich with enough institutional maturity of a functioning democracy.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Japan's leading index declined for the second straight month in October. The preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, fell to a 3-month low of 108.7 in October from 109.3 in the previous month. On the other hand, the coincident index that measures the current economic situation rose to a 4-month high of 115.9 from 115.7 a month ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 69523.27, down by 130.46 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 69320.53 and 69695.33. There were 17 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.50%, while Small cap index was up by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.29%, Power up by 1.82%, Consumer Durables up by 0.88%, Oil & Gas up by 0.85% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.56%, while Metal down by 0.65%, FMCG down by 0.60%, TECK down by 0.27%, Capital Goods down by 0.17% and Realty down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.14%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.25%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.98%, Titan up by 0.96% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.10%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.76%, Tata Steel down by 1.10%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.89% and Sun Pharma down by 0.72% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the government has sought Parliament's nod to spend a net additional Rs 58,378 crore in the current fiscal ending March 2024 (FY24), with a large chunk going towards MGNREGA and subsidy on fertiliser. The gross additional spending sought by the government is over Rs 1.29 lakh crore, of which Rs 70,968 crore would be matched by savings and receipts.

The additional expenditure includes Rs 13,351 crore towards fertiliser subsidy and about Rs 7,000 crore towards spending by the Department of Food and Public Distribution. The government also sought Parliament approval for an additional Rs 9,200 crore spending by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Rs 14,524 crore by the Ministry of Rural Development towards MGNREGA.

The total supplementary demands for spending by the Ministry of External Affairs is Rs 20,000 crore, which would be adjusted against the reduction of expenditure of over Rs 9,000 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 20903.70, down by 34.00 points or 0.16% after trading in a range of 20850.80 and 20941.25. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.16%, Power Grid up by 2.01%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.32%, Cipla up by 1.27% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.19%, ONGC down by 2.03%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.86%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.68% and Hindalco down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 189.47 points or 1.15% to 16,273.79, Taiwan Weighted lost 81.98 points or 0.47% to 17,278.74, Straits Times fell 15.85 points or 0.51% to 3,071.39, Shanghai Composite weakened 2.06 points or 0.07% to 2,966.87, KOSPI dropped 3.31 points or 0.13% to 2,492.07 and Nikkei 225 slipped 587.59 points or 1.79% to 32,858.31, while Jakarta Composite gained 0.59 points or 0.01% to 7,087.99.