Selling pressure drags Indian markets near day’s lows

A persistent selling pressure dragged Indian equity benchmarks near their intraday low points during early afternoon deals, amid mixed cues from other Asian markets on continuing concerns over the conflict in the Middle East and the resulting spike in crude oil prices. Iran has warned it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless the U.S. meets a series of preconditions, including compensation, lifting of sanctions, and an end to military threats. The street overlooked reports that the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has eased compliance requirements for exporters by doing away with the submission of physical duty payment challans for obtaining Export Obligation Discharge Certificates (EODC) under the Advance Authorisation (AA) and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Schemes.

Both the Sensex and the Nifty were trading on a weak note as investors remained cautious amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Both the indices witnessed a sharp decline of around 0.59% each. Banking and financial stocks were emerging as key drags on the benchmarks, while IT stocks provided some support.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, after a measure of the public assessment of the current situation of the Japanese economy improved more-than-expected in July to the highest level in five months. The current conditions index of the Economy Watchers' Survey rose to 45.7 in July from 44.0 in June. However, any reading below 50 indicates pessimism.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 78082.38, down by 460.06 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 78048.26 and 78509.77. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.55%, Consumer Disc up by 0.23%, Consumer Durables up by 0.12% and Auto up by 0.04%, while Power down by 0.94%, Capital Goods down by 0.92%, Realty down by 0.74%, Utilities down by 0.73% and Industrials down by 0.72% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.11%, Infosys up by 0.79%, Titan Company up by 0.69%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.60% and Maruti Suzuki India up by 0.55%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.54%, Interglobe Aviation down by 1.67%, Tata Steel down by 1.53%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.47% and Axis Bank down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has informed that the government's combined mop-up from disinvestment and asset monetisation stood at Rs 45,306 crore in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), exceeding the Revised Estimates. In the Revised Estimates (RE) for FY26, the government had pegged Miscellaneous Capital Receipts at Rs 33,837 crore. Theses Miscellaneous Capital Receipts includes PSU disinvestment and public asset monetisation. In FY26, the Government has realised Rs 16,885.56 crore from disinvestment and Rs 28,420.49 crore from Asset Monetisation. 

For the ongoing FY27, the government has budgeted Rs 80,000 crore under Miscellaneous Capital Receipts. It has realised Rs 59,083 crore under Miscellaneous Capital Receipts so far in FY27. These receipts included Rs 52,716 crore from disinvestment through Offer for Sale of PSUs and about Rs 6,367 crore from asset monetisation.

The government has divested its stake in Central Bank of India, Coal India, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), NHPC, NLC India, General Insurance Corporation of India, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, Cochin Shipyard and Indian Medicines Pharaceuticals Corporation through Offer for Sale. Meanwhile, disinvestment receipts in FY25 stood at Rs 10,163 crore. In FY24, FY23 and FY22, it was Rs 16,507 crore, Rs 35,294 crore and Rs 13,534 crore, respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24439.65, down by 144.15 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 24429.25 and 24576.85. There were 12 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Labs. up by 2.40%, Titan Company up by 0.94%, Eicher Motors up by 0.73%, HCL Technologies up by 0.69% and Infosys up by 0.65%. On the flip side, Max Healthcare Inst. down by 2.75%, Tata Consumer Products down by 2.43%, Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 2.29%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.09% and Ultratech Cement down by 2.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite plunged 81.4 points or 1.28% to 6,283.97, Hang Seng declined 246.49 points or 0.95% to 25,691.00 and Shanghai Composite weakened 32.89 points or 0.83% to 3,933.70, while KOSPI increased 45.87 points or 0.72% to 6,345.53, Taiwan Weighted added 191.96 points or 0.43% to 45,120.72 and Straits Times rose 32.78 points or 0.58% to 5,731.21.