Benchmarks continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, amid unabated foreign fund outflows, weak trends in the global markets and selling in blue-chip stocks. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,893.16 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. Some concern also came as the data released by the Finance Ministry showed that India's external debt rose to $ 711.8 billion as of September this year, up 4.3 per cent over June 2024. Traders overlooked a RBI report stated that the Indian economy is exhibiting resilience and stability, and the gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow at 6.6 per cent in 2024-25, aided by a revival in rural consumption, a pickup in government consumption and investment, and strong services exports. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red amid concerns about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's protectionist policies and the outlook for interest rates.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77804.49, down by 443.64 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 77560.79 and 77997.49. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.67%, while Small cap index was down by 0.29%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.53%, PSU up by 0.49%, Industrials up by 0.21%, Metal up by 0.19% and Oil & Gas up by 0.07%, while IT down by 2.31%, TECK down by 2.06%, Realty down by 0.80%, Utilities down by 0.69% and Telecom down by 0.62% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.93%, SBI up by 0.95%, Tata Motors up by 0.65%, Sun Pharma up by 0.53% and Tata Steel up by 0.33%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.99%, TCS down by 2.60%, Infosys down by 2.56%, Zomato down by 2.33% and HCL Technologies down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry in India's Quarterly External Debt Report has said that the country's external debt rose to $711.8 billion as of September this year, up 4.3 per cent over June 2024. At the end of September 2023, the external debt stood at $ 637.1 billion. In September 2024, India's external debt was placed at $711.8 billion, recording an increase of $29.6 billion over its level at June-end 2024. It stated the external debt to GDP ratio stood at 19.4 per cent in September 2024 against 18.8 per cent as of June 2024.

It mentioned ‘The US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India's external debt with a share of 53.4 per cent at end-September 2024, followed by Indian Rupee (31.2 per cent), Japanese Yen (6.6 per cent), SDR (5.0 per cent) and Euro (3.0 per cent).’ It noted the outstanding external debt of the general government as well as the non-government sector increased at September-end 2024 over the June 2024 level.

Moreover, it said loans were the largest component of external debt, with a share of 33.7 per cent, followed by currency and deposits (23.1 per cent), trade credit and advances (18.3 per cent) and debt securities (17.2 per cent). It added debt service (principal repayments plus interest payments) stood at 6.7 per cent of current receipts at September-end 2024 compared to 6.6 per cent in June 2024.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23519.55, down by 125.35 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 23460.45 and 23584.50. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.06%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.53%, ONGC up by 1.10%, SBI up by 0.99% and Tata Motors up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.71%, TCS down by 2.66%, Infosys down by 2.61%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.59% and Wipro down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 123.8 points or 0.53% to 23,066.40, Straits Times fell 8.13 points or 0.21% to 3,787.60 and Shanghai Composite weakened 20.18 points or 0.6% to 3,387.15.

On the flip side, Hang Seng advanced 18.53 points or 0.09% to 20,059.95 and Jakarta Composite gained 43.33 points or 0.62% to 7,079.90.