Benchmarks trade lower in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in morning deals, dragged by blue-chip HDFC Bank and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) again turned sellers on Monday as they offloaded equities worth Rs 4,680.51 crore after a day's breather, according to exchange data. Some concern also came as data showed growth in the index of industrial production (IIP) declined to a three-month low of 4.2 per cent in June from the upward revised figure of 6.2 per cent in the preceding month. Traders also remained cautious as a forecast by the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) showed that India’s merchandise exports growth may slow to 4.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in the September quarter of 2024-25 (FY25), down from 5.8 per cent in the June quarter. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green bolstered by an advance in Japanese shares. However, traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key US inflation reports later in the day and tomorrow, with the data likely to impact the outlook for interest rates. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79419.76, down by 229.16 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 79419.40 and 79692.55. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.25%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 0.77%, FMCG up by 0.34%, TECK up by 0.33%, IT up by 0.26% and Healthcare up by 0.26%, while Basic Materials down by 0.83%, Realty down by 0.63%, Bankex down by 0.49%, Telecom down by 0.44% and Oil & Gas down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 0.94%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.82%, Axis Bank up by 0.77%, TCS up by 0.63% and Sun Pharma up by 0.58%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.92%, Tata Motors down by 1.50%, Asian Paints down by 0.66%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.54% and Tata Steel down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation declined to a five-year low of 3.54 per cent in July 2024 mainly on account of subdued prices of food items, and base effect. It was 5.08 per cent in June 2024 and 7.44 per cent in July 2023. Retail inflation slipped below the median target of 4 per cent of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the first time since September 2019 when it was at 3.99 per cent. The government has tasked the RBI to ensure inflation remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side. Inflation has remained below 6 per cent since September 2023.

The National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in July 2024 stood at 4.10 per cent over 5.66 per cent in June 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 2.98 per cent in July as against 4.39 per cent in June. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 195.3, 190.2 and 192.9 respectively, in July 2024. The price data are collected from selected 1114 urban Markets and 1181 villages covering all States/UTs through personal visits by field staff of Field Operations Division of NSO, MoSPI on a weekly roster. During the month of July 2024, NSO collected prices from 100% villages and 98.5% urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 88.71% for rural and 92.64% for urban.

According to the data, the CPI Inflation in the food basket was 5.42 per cent in July, down from 9.36 per cent in June, and 11.51 a year ago. The inflation rate for vegetables stood at 6.83 per cent in July, against June’s rate of 29.32 per cent. For cereals and pulses, which constitute a significant portion of India's staple diet, the prices quickened 8.14 per cent and 14.77 per cent respectively. The fuel and light prices contracted 5.48 per cent in July, against a contraction of 3.66 per cent in June. The annual inflation in ‘milk and milk products’ was 2.99 per cent, ‘oils and fats’ (-) 1.17, fruits 3.84 per cent, and spices (-) 1.43 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24293.95, down by 53.05 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 24277.15 and 24359.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 1.40%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 1.23%, HCL Technologies up by 0.97%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.86% and Britannia up by 0.85%. On the flip side, HDFC Bank down by 2.78%, BPCL down by 2.07%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.70%, Shriram Finance down by 1.64% and Grasim Industries down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 17.13 points or 0.1% to 17,128.78, Jakarta Composite gained 45.52 points or 0.62% to 7,343.15, Straits Times rose 27.48 points or 0.85% to 3,262.86, Nikkei 225 surged 982.76 points or 2.81% to 36,007.76 and Taiwan Weighted added 22.58 points or 0.1% to 21,795.84.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 2.11 points or 0.07% to 2,856.09 and KOSPI dropped 2.27 points or 0.09% to 2,616.03.