Domestic indices trade lower in early deals after positive start

Indian markets made slightly positive start on Wednesday but soon slipped into red terrain following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight coupled with mixed cues from Asian counterparts as traders are digesting US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Powell expressed concerns about potentially stalling economic growth if interest rates are kept high for too long. Markets are digesting mixed inflation prints from China and Japan. Japanese producer price index inflation picked up slightly in June, with the year-on-year rate rising to 2.9%. Chinese consumer price index inflation shrank in June from the prior month.

Closer home, domestic indices are trading lower in early deals with marginal losses. Traders were concerned with a private report stating that India consumer price inflation probably edged up in June, snapping five months of declines, largely because of a jump in vegetable prices caused by the damage to crops wrought by extreme weather. However, downside remained capped amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 314.46 crore on July 09. 

On the sectoral front, insurance industry stocks are in focus as data released by the General Insurance Council showed non-life insurers reported a 13.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in gross direct premium, underwritten in April-June quarter of FY25 (Q1FY25). This was driven by strong performance in health and motor segments. In stock specific development, RVNL rose on order win from South-Eastern Railway.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80178.30, down by 173.34 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 80144.17 and 80481.36. 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 0.04%, while Small cap index was up by 0.10%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 0.71%, Utilities up by 0.69%, Power up by 0.46%, Telecom up by 0.45% and PSU up by 0.32%, while Bankex down by 0.55%, Auto down by 0.32%, Basic Materials down by 0.29%, IT down by 0.28% and Metal down by 0.19% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.39%, NTPC up by 1.67%, Titan Company up by 0.76%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.60% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.69%, SBI down by 1.21%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.90%, HCL Technologies down by 0.79% and TCS down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a positive development, India and Russia have agreed to boost bilateral trade to over $100 billion by 2030 by reinvigorating investments, using national currencies for trade and increasing cooperations in sectors ranging from energy to agriculture and infrastructure. In the joint statement issued following the 22nd Annual Bilateral Summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Moscow, the two sides reiterated commitment to development of the special and privileged strategic partnership and vowed to give additional impetus to the deepening of bilateral interaction by promoting Russia-India trade and economic cooperation.

The two sides agreed on nine key areas of cooperations that spanned trade, trade settlement using national currencies, increased cargo turnover through new routes such as the North-South Transport Corridor, raising volume of trade in agri products, food and fertiliser, deepening cooperation in the energy sector, including nuclear energy, strengthening interaction for infrastructure development, promotion of investments and joint projects across digital economy, collaborating on supply of medicines and development of humanitarian cooperation.

The leaders agreed to aspire ‘for elimination of non-tariff trade barriers related to bilateral trade between India and Russia’ and continue ‘dialogue in the field of liberalisation of bilateral trade, including the possibility of the establishment of the EAEU-India Free Trade Area’. This to achieve mutually agreed trade volume of more than $100 billion by 2030, including increased supplies of goods from India to achieve balanced bilateral trade. Also, reinvigoration of investment activities within the framework of the special investment regimes was agreed. They agreed on development of a bilateral settlement system using national currencies. This means any purchase by India from Russia such as crude oil, can potentially be paid in Indian rupee. This currency can then be used by Russia to settle payments for imports from India. A vice-versa use of Russian rubles is also possible.

It said the two leaders agreed for increase of cargo turnover with India through the launch of new routes of the North-South International Transport Corridor, the Northern Sea Route and the Chennai-Vladivostok Sea Line, and added that optimisation of customs procedures through the application of intelligent digital systems for barrier-free movement of goods was also agreed. They were for raising the volume of bilateral trade in agricultural products, food and fertilisers as well as maintenance of an intensive dialogue aimed at removing veterinary, sanitary and phytosanitary restrictions and prohibitions. The two sides agreed to strengthen interaction in the fields of infrastructure development, transport engineering, automobile production and shipbuilding, space and other industrial sectors. They also agreed for facilitation of the creation of new joint (subsidiary) companies by providing them with favourable fiscal regimes.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24400.35, down by 32.85 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 24383.60 and 24461.05. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.29%, Eicher Motors up by 2.26%, NTPC up by 1.62%, Britannia Industries up by 1.46% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.89%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.68%, SBI down by 1.14%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.88%, HCL Technologies down by 0.85% and Axis Bank down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 43.8 points or 0.25% to 17,567.03, Jakarta Composite gained 29.4 points or 0.4% to 7,299.20, Straits Times rose 20.18 points or 0.59% to 3,446.27 and Taiwan Weighted added 17.6 points or 0.07% to 23,917.68. On the other hand, Shanghai Composite weakened 9.71 points or 0.33% to 2,949.66, Nikkei 225 slipped 9.25 points or 0.02% to 41,570.92 and KOSPI was down by 3.38 points or 0.12% to 2,864.00.