Indices trim some losses in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices trimmed some of their losses but continued to trade in red in late morning deals, weighed down by weak global cues and the absence of fresh domestic catalysts. Investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting outcome, which is expected to provide cues on the interest rate trajectory. Hectic selling in Asian Paints, TCS, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and HCL Technologies dragged both the Sensex and Nifty below their psychological 84,800 and 25,900 levels, respectively. On the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen piling up positions in Capital Goods, Telecom, Industrials, Realty and PSU, while selling was witnessed in IT, TECK, Auto, Consumer Durables and Energy.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading in mostly in red following negative cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Siemens fell after its board approved and executed a slump sale agreement for the transfer of its low voltage motors and geared motors business to Innomotics India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84781.51, down by 321.18 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 84382.96 and 84889.67. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.01%, while Small cap index was up by 0.30%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.48%, Telecom up by 0.42%, Industrials up by 0.38%, Realty up by 0.33% and PSU up by 0.31%, while IT down by 1.01%, TECK down by 0.76%, Auto down by 0.62%, Consumer Durables down by 0.56% and Energy down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan up by 1.46%, Eternal up by 1.12%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.60%, SBI up by 0.56% and ITC up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.69%, TCS down by 1.26%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.16%, Infosys down by 1.02% and HCL Technologies down by 0.89% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that public sector banks (PSBs) have written off loans worth Rs 6.15 lakh crore during the last five financial years and the current financial year till September 30, 2025 (provisional data). He said there has been no capital infusion in PSBs by the government since FY2022-23, and added that PSBs have significantly improved their financial performance, turning profitable and strengthening their capital position.

The minister said PSBs now rely on market sources and internal accruals to meet their capital requirements and they have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore capital from market through equity and bonds since April 1, 2022 till September 30, 2025. He said banks write-off NPAs, including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, as per RBI guidelines and policy approved by banks' board. Such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers to repay.

Further, he said recovery in written-off loans is an ongoing process and banks continue pursuing their recovery actions initiated against borrowers under the various recovery mechanism available to them, such as filing of a suit in civil courts or in Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRT), action under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act 2002, filing of cases in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 etc. He said as provisioning for bad loans has already been done and the write-off process does not entail any actual cash outflow, the bank's liquidity position remains intact. Moreover, banks evaluate/consider the impact of write-offs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance-sheet, avail tax benefit, optimise capital base, enhance lending capacity and boost investor sentiments.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25857.55, down by 103.00 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 25728.00 and 25890.95. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan up by 1.40%, Eternal up by 1.17%, Shriram Finance up by 0.89%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.65% and SBI up by 0.43%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.83%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 1.35%, SBI Life down by 1.27%, TCS down by 1.23% and HDFC Life down by 1.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 130.19 points or 0.46% to 28,173.59, Jakarta Composite plunged 38.73 points or 0.45% to 8,671.97, Shanghai Composite weakened 14.14 points or 0.36% to 3,909.94, KOSPI dropped 15.80 points or 0.38% to 4,139.05 and Hang Seng declined 301.36 points or 1.17% to 25,464.00. However, Nikkei 225 surged 86.06 points or 0.17% to 50,668.00 and Straits Times rose 5.77 points or 0.13% to 4,512.85.