Local equities continue weak trade in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in morning deals, amid elevated crude oil prices as expectations for a near-term US-Iran agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz weakened. Traders remained cautious as the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stating that the pace of joblessness as well as the ratio of workers' population in India stayed almost flat year-on-year during the April-June quarter of this fiscal, reflecting no sign of expansion or contraction in the country's job market.

Both the Sensex and Nifty were trading lower by around half a percent weighed down by selling pressure in index heavyweights. Although strength in IT stocks and continued foreign buying provided some support. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,974.76 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, on continuing concerns over the conflict in the Middle East and the resulting spike in crude oil prices. Investors also await cues from key U.S. inflation readings due this week.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 78174.25, down by 368.19 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 78114.07 and 78509.77. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.67%, Consumer Durables up by 0.32%, Auto up by 0.29%, Consumer Discretionary up by 0.29% and Oil & Gas up by 0.26%, while Bankex down by 0.70%, Capital Goods down by 0.64%, Power down by 0.55%, FMCG down by 0.47% and Industrials down by 0.44% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 1.06%, HCL Technologies up by 0.66%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.61%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.53% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 1.49%, Interglobe Aviation down by 1.31%, Eternal down by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.26% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that banks have written off loans of Rs 9,95,000 crore given to large corporates and services in the last 12 financial years. Chaudhary stated that write-offs touched a high of Rs 1,48,753 crore in 2018-19 (FY19), which declined to Rs 20,485 crore in 2025-26 (FY26).

Citing RBI data, he said outstanding loans to large industries and services increased from Rs 63,19,057 crore in FY25 to Rs 69,21,734 crore in FY26. He said debt write-off is an accounting procedure and does not provide any relief to the debtor, whether a farmer or a corporate entity. 

Further, he said, as per the RBI - Resolution of Stressed Assets Directions 2025, issued for commercial banks, write-off (a major portion of which is due to technical/prudential/ advances under collection) is an accounting procedure undertaken by a bank to adjust its balance sheets.  

Moreover, he added such write-off does not result in waiver of liabilities of borrowers, and therefore, it does not benefit the borrower. Besides, he mentioned the borrowers continue to be liable for repayment, and banks continue to pursue recovery actions initiated in these accounts.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24480.70, down by 103.10 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 24460.90 and 24576.85. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 1.22%, Eicher Motors up by 1.13%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.97%, Hindalco Industries up by 0.75% and Bajaj Auto up by 0.75%. On the flip side, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.88%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.71%, Max Healthcare Inst. down by 1.62%, Nestle India down by 1.61% and Interglobe Aviation down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted added 143.17 points or 0.32% to 45,071.93, KOSPI increased 77.99 points or 1.24% to 6,377.65 and Straits Times rose 46.66 points or 0.82% to 5,745.09. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite plunged 52.01 points or 0.82% to 6,313.36, Shanghai Composite weakened 6.12 points or 0.15% to 3,960.47 and Hang Seng declined 148.49 points or 0.57% to 25,789.00.