Indian equity benchmarks made slightly positive start on Friday but soon slipped sharply below neutral lines following weak cues from Asian counterparts amid much uncertainty over U.S. policies under Trump administration and China's growth prospects. Sensex and Nifty are trading under pressure in early deals. Continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) has consistently put downward pressure on the markets. FIIs offloaded shares worth Rs 7,170.87 crore on January 9. Some pessimism came with a private report that the Indian rupee will extend its steady decline against a strong US dollar amid heightened market expectations of a Reserve Bank of India interest rate cut next month.
Some cautiousness crept in as India Ratings said that any broad-based or strong recovery in corporate capital expenditure was unlikely in the upcoming financial year 2026 (FY26) due to uncertainty of domestic and external demand. It added the uncertainty is adversely affecting the overall corporate sector capex. Interest rates on credit are not the primary deterrent to decisions about capital expenditure.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red, following the mixed cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight as they were closed, as traders are cautious ahead of the release of the closely watched US monthly jobs later in the day, which will potentially provide additional clarity about the strength of the labor market and the outlook for interest rate cuts. Back home, in stock specific development, TCS rose after its Q3 results and better outlook.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77382.61, down by 237.60 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 77362.79 and 77890.97. 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 1.37%, while Small cap index was down by 2.04%.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.57% and TECK up by 1.27%, while Utilities down by 2.19%, Power down by 2.03%, PSU down by 1.95%, Industrials down by 1.80% and Basic Materials down by 1.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.92%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.46%, Infosys up by 1.54%, Nestle up by 0.78% and HCL Technologies up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.41%, NTPC down by 2.26%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.74%, Tata Steel down by 1.73% and SBI down by 1.55% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has asked the commercial wings of Indian Missions of 20 countries to specifically identify market opportunities in six goods and services to promote India's exports. Ways to increase the exports were discussed during a three-day meet, concluded on January 8, between senior officials from the ministry and commercial wings of Indian Missions. The missions were asked to market opportunities in these six sectors, competitors and specific companies.
The meeting was important as the commerce ministry is in the process of formulating a strategy to push exports of six key product categories, including engineering goods and electronics, to 20 focus countries, including the US, Australia, France, China, Russia, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia. These countries, including the US and the European Union nations, account for a major chunk of India's total exports.
After recording double-digit growth in October 2024, India's exports in November contracted 4.85 per cent year-on-year to $32.11 billion. Cumulatively, during April-November this fiscal year, exports increased by 2.17 per cent to $284.31 billion and imports by 8.35 per cent to $486.73 billion. Services exports reached an all-time high of $34.31 billion in October, registering an increase of 22.3 per cent year-on-year.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23419.30, down by 107.20 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 23416.55 and 23596.00. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 3.91%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.51%, Infosys up by 1.55%, Wipro up by 1.49% and HCL Technologies up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 3.80%, Adani Enterprises down by 3.19%, Bharat Electronics down by 2.74%, Indusind Bank down by 2.73% and NTPC down by 2.47% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 381.5 points or 0.97% to 39,223.59, Hang Seng declined 85.23 points or 0.44% to 19,155.66, Straits Times fell 67.3 points or 1.77% to 3,795.30, Taiwan Weighted lost 21.21 points or 0.09% to 23,059.92, Shanghai Composite weakened 12.56 points or 0.39% to 3,198.83 and KOSPI down by 0.51 points or 0.02% to 2,521.39, while Jakarta Composite was up by 42.95 points or 0.6% to 7,107.54.
