Indian equity benchmarks continued their lackluster trade in early afternoon session with both Sensex and Nifty trading near their neutral lines, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets along with heavy selling at Healthcare and Power counters, amid Trump's tariff threats and expectations of fewer interest-rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2025. Sentiments remained downbeat, as credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has forecasted that fiscal 2026 (FY26) will be a year of headwinds for the credit market, led by externalities, length and breath of indebtedness in the retail lending space, volatile banking system liquidity and domestic growth-inflation conundrums.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Japan's leading index as well as coincident index declined in November. The preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed that the leading index, which measures future economic activity, dropped to 107.0 in November from 109.1 in October. A similar lower reading was last seen in August. The score was forecast to drop less markedly to 107.2.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77662.22, up by 42.01 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 77099.55 and 77919.70. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.40%, while Small cap index was down by 1.66%.
The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.85% and TECK up by 2.42%, while Healthcare down by 2.03%, Power down by 1.88%, Realty down by 1.56%, Utilities down by 1.54% and Basic Materials down by 1.48% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 5.98%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.72%, Infosys up by 2.65%, HCL Tech. up by 2.32% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.74%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.55%, Sun Pharma down by 2.47%, NTPC down by 2.33% and SBI down by 1.89% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the revision of data by the commerce ministry's arm DGCIS is reflecting adjustments in the imports of gold, silver, and electronics for the period from April to November 2024. GTRI said the revisions highlight discrepancies in earlier data reporting and underscore the need for accurate trade documentation, especially in high-value commodities like gold.
According to the GTRI report, India's electronics imports for April to November 2024 were revised from $63.9 billion to $61.2 billion, a reduction of $2.7 billion. In November 2024, electronics imports were adjusted from $7.6 billion to $7.2 billion. Similarly, it said, the country's silver imports during April-November 2024 were revised down from $3.28 billion to $2.33 billion, marking a $0.95 billion drop. For November 2024, silver imports reduced by $0.18 billion from $0.66 billion to $0.48 billion. On gold, it said that there has been a downward revision of the imports of yellow metal from different countries during April-October 2024.
It said that imports from the UAE revised from $11.63 billion to $7.98 billion, a drop of $3.65 billion. From Switzerland, the inbound shipments were reduced by $1 billion, from $9.45 billion to $8.45 billion during the first seven months of this fiscal. From South Africa, the revised import data showed a dip of $1.07 billion, from $3.45 billion to $2.38 billion. The imports from Australia now stand at $1.05 billion during April-October this fiscal from $1.53 billion, and from Hong Kong, the imports were cut by $0.33 billion, from $1 billion to $0.67 billion.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23505.50, down by 21.00 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 23344.35 and 23596.60. There were 19 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 5.97%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.80%, Wipro up by 3.58%, Infosys up by 2.67% and HCL Tech. up by 2.34%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 4.14%, Indusind Bank down by 3.76%, Adani Enterprises down by 2.97%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.56% and Sun Pharma down by 2.50% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 186.28 points or 0.98% to 19,054.61, Shanghai Composite weakened 37.93 points or 1.2% to 3,173.46, Straits Times fell 74.48 points or 1.97% to 3,788.12, KOSPI dropped 6.12 points or 0.24% to 2,515.78, Nikkei 225 slipped 414.69 points or 1.06% to 39,190.40 and Taiwan Weighted lost 69.27 points or 0.3% to 23,011.86, while Jakarta Composite gained 39.7 points or 0.56% to 7,104.29.
