Bourses remain under pressure in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure in morning session, in-line with extremely weak trends in global markets amid fears of a slowdown in the US economy and foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,310 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. The mood on the street remained cautious as data from the central bank showed India's foreign exchange reserves halted a three-week gaining streak and stood at $667.39 billion as of July 26, coming off record highs. Traders overlooked a survey showed activity in India's dominant services sector remained upbeat in July on robust demand, leading to strong job creation, despite elevated cost pressures pushing up selling-price inflation to a seven-year high. The HSBC final India Services Purchasing Managers' Index, compiled by S&P Global, fell marginally to 60.3 in July from 60.5 in June and was considerably below a preliminary estimate of 61.1. However, the overall pace of expansion was sharp and the index remained above the 50-mark that separates contraction from expansion for the 36th straight month.  

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red following the broad sell-off in the global markets on Friday, as traders react to weak U.S. monthly jobs data and recent weak data on US manufacturing activity that stocked fears the world's largest economy could slip into a recession after the US Fed seems to have waited too long to cut interest rates. Back home, on the sectoral front, auto stocks remained in watch as data from auto body FADA showed India's automobile retails grew 13.8 per cent on an annual basis in July. Almost all segments except tractors exhibited a double-digit growth even as passenger vehicles' inventory levels rose to a historic high of 67-72 days. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79550.13, down by 1431.82 points or 1.77% after trading in a range of 78580.46 and 79780.61. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 2.29%, while Small cap index was down by 2.43%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was FMCG up by 0.27%, while Realty down by 3.70%, Metal down by 2.96%, IT down by 2.70%, Capital Goods down by 2.68% and PSU down by 2.62% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.43%, Sun Pharma up by 1.14%, Nestle up by 1.03%, Asian Paints up by 0.94% and ITC up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.33%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.37%, Tata Steel down by 3.16%, Infosys down by 2.90% and JSW Steel down by 2.89% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand has said that agriculture has been a key focus area of development strategy in India, and the country has achieved the highest growth rate of 5 per cent in the farm sector during the seven years from 2016-17 to 2022-23. Chand said that according to the World Bank data, India achieved the highest growth rate in GDP agriculture in the world in the last 10 years.

He pointed out that the share of agriculture in the world GDP has risen from 3.2 per cent in 2006 to 4.3 per cent in recent years. He stated agricultural growth in the last 15 years has saved many countries from economic collapse.  He said due to the poor effort of industry in pulling the labour force out of agriculture, the onus of remunerative employment for the large workforce still remains on agriculture.

According to him, the recent achievements and opportunities in agriculture are pointing to an even higher role for agriculture in the future development of India and the world. He noted that all these challenges necessitate a fresh appreciation of the role of agriculture in economic and human development and a renewed focus on agriculture at all levels.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24280.00, down by 437.70 points or 1.77% after trading in a range of 24192.50 and 24350.05. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.39%, Tata Consumer Product up by 1.34%, Sun Pharma up by 1.29%, Britannia Industries up by 1.05% and Nestle up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 4.29%, ONGC down by 3.76%, Hindalco down by 3.62%, Tata Steel down by 3.27% and JSW Steel down by 3.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 36.55 points or 0.22% to 16,908.96, Jakarta Composite plunged 140.62 points or 1.92% to 7,167.50, Straits Times fell 104.33 points or 3.09% to 3,277.12, KOSPI dropped 197.09 points or 7.36% to 2,479.10, Nikkei 225 slipped 2904.33 points or 8.09% to 33,005.37 and Taiwan Weighted lost 1696.17 points or 7.84% to 19,941.92.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 1.99 points or 0.07% to 2,907.33.