Key gauges continue to trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, dragged down by Utilities, Power and Realty stocks and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,114.85 crore on Monday, according to the exchange data. Traders paid no heed towards Ministry of Statistics report stated that the unemployment rate (UR) in India among persons of age 15 years and above declined to 5.2 per cent in July-September this year from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter of April-June. Separately, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met a business delegation led by President of the Utah State Senate J Stuart Adams and discussed enhancing collaborations in areas like AI, clean energy, minerals, biotech, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as progress toward ending the record-long US government shutdown lifted sentiment, sparking a cross-asset rally from commodities to cryptocurrencies.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83284.95, down by 250.40 points or 0.30% after trading in a range of 83244.61 and 83726.51. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.39%, while Small cap index was down by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 1.29%, TECK up by 0.62%, Capital Goods up by 0.46%, IT up by 0.20% and Industrials up by 0.15%, while Utilities down by 0.78%, Power down by 0.64%, Realty down by 0.60%, Oil & Gas down by 0.54% and Consumer Durables down by 0.51% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 1.61%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.58%, Trent up by 1.40%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.71% and Eternal up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 7.04%, Bajaj Finserv down by 6.70%, Tata Motors Passenger down by 1.69%, Tata Steel down by 1.07% and Power Grid Corporation down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the defence ministry has said India and Vietnam have inked a pact to set up a framework for submarine search, rescue and support mechanism in case of any eventualities. The two sides also signed a letter of intent (LoI) to strengthen bilateral defence industry collaboration. The ministry said both sides expressed satisfaction on progress made in the areas of hydrography cooperation, capacity building and training and ship visits, and cooperation in niche domains namely AI and shipyard upgradation.

The ministry they also decided to expand and further deepen cooperation in important emerging areas like cyber security and real-time exchange of information. The two sides also exchanged views on the regional security situation. Both sides also signed a letter of intent on strengthening defence industry cooperation to promote transfer of technology, prioritise core-technology domains and to undertake joint cooperation in research.

The ministry said It will also provide for setting up of joint ventures, procurement of equipment and materials for defence production as well as exchange of experts, and production of equipment.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25491.90, down by 82.45 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 25486.65 and 25637.60. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 1.70%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.52%, Trent up by 1.26%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.13% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 7.01%, Bajaj Finserv down by 6.51%, Tata Motors Passenger down by 1.64%, Shriram Finance down by 1.55% and Eicher Motors down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 59.76 points or 0.12% to 50,852.00, Jakarta Composite plunged 27.07 points or 0.32% to 8,364.17, Shanghai Composite weakened 18.36 points or 0.46% to 4,000.24 and Hang Seng declined 76.06 points or 0.29% to 26,573.00.

On the flip side, Straits Times rose 52.04 points or 1.16% to 4,540.17, Taiwan Weighted added 167.98 points or 0.6% to 28,037.49 and KOSPI increased 16.87 points or 0.41% to 4,090.11.