Bears hold tight grip over Dalal Street

Bears continued to hold their tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty falling over a per cent, due to a sharp selling at Realty and Banking counters amid negative cues from other Asian markets after rising geopolitical tensions. Traders were cautious, as the Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan has said that with 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states. He suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Traders overlooked reports that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is working on about 100 rules and laws of various departments of government to bring Jan Vishwas 2.0 bill, with an aim to achieve a greater ease of doing business environment in the country. The work is being done as the priority area under the first 100-day thrust of the present government.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as the manufacturing sector in China fell into contraction territory in September, with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.3. That's down from 50.4 in August, and it slips beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84585.32, down by 986.53 points or 1.15% after trading in a range of 84530.32 and 85359.65. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.09%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.45%, Basic Materials up by 0.85%, Utilities up by 0.34%, Consumer Durables up by 0.08% and Oil & Gas up by 0.05%, while Realty down by 2.06%, Bankex down by 1.56%, Auto down by 1.50%, Telecom down by 1.26% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.98% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were JSW Steel up by 2.82%, NTPC up by 1.42%, Tata Steel up by 1.38%, Asian Paints up by 1.15% and Titan up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.45%, Axis Bank down by 2.29%, ICICI Bank down by 2.24%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.04% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan has said that with 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states. He suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. He further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.  According to him, the industries that are more capital-intensive are growing faster, but labour-intensive industries are not growing. 

While welcoming the apprenticeship schemes announced by the finance minister in this year's Budget, Rajan said ‘but we have to monitor that very closely, see what works and expand what works much more.’ Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the Union Budget of FY25 that the government will launch three employment-linked schemes based on enrolment in Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). 

Citing examples of Vietnam and Bangladesh, which are doing well in labour-intensive industries like textile and leather, he said ‘we need to look at this (labour-intensive industry) very, very carefully, we cannot be left out.’  

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25900.80, down by 278.15 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 25882.30 and 26134.70. There were 15 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel up by 2.89%, Hindalco up by 1.82%, NTPC up by 1.64%, Tata Steel up by 1.44% and Asian Paints up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 4.34%, Trent down by 3.21%, Reliance Industries down by 2.44%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.34% and Axis Bank down by 2.32% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Jakarta Composite plunged 95.57 points or 1.26% to 7,601.35, KOSPI dropped 56.51 points or 2.18% to 2,593.27, Nikkei 225 slipped 1910.01 points or 5.04% to 37,919.55 and Taiwan Weighted lost 598.25 points or 2.69% to 22,224.54, while Hang Seng advanced 671.36 points or 3.15% to 21,303.66, Shanghai Composite strengthened 222.9 points or 6.73% to 3,310.43 and Straits Times rose 14.54 points or 0.41% to 3,587.90.