Bourses trade lower in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade lower in late afternoon session amid hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dampened expectations for aggressive interest rate cuts. Besides, India's manufacturing sector growth slowed down in the month of September, as rates of expansion in factory production and sales receded for the third straight month, both of which were at their weakest since the turn of the year but above their respective long-run averages. Sentiments continued to hit as output of eight core industries contracted for the first time in nearly four years by 1.8 per cent in August 2024 due to decline in output of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, cement and electricity. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following positive cues from the US markets overnight. European markets were trading mostly in green after ECB President Christine Lagarde hinted at another cut in interest rates at the Bank's next policy meeting in October, citing falling inflation and data pointing to a slowdown in the region.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84206.78, down by 93.00 points or 0.11% after trading in a range of 84098.94 and 84648.40. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.85%, TECK up by 0.56%, Basic Materials up by 0.55%, Auto up by 0.22% and Consumer Durables was up by 0.14%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.73%, Telecom down by 0.59%, Energy down by 0.58%, Realty down by 0.55% and FMCG was down by 0.28% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.80%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.00%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.44%, Infosys up by 1.41% and Adani Ports up by 1.22%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.62%, Asian Paints down by 2.19%, Titan Company down by 1.34%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.30% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) has showed that the Centre’s fiscal deficit - the gap between expenditure and revenue - at the end of the first five months (April-August) of the current fiscal (FY25) touched 27 per cent of the full-year target. The deficit stood at 36 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) in the corresponding period of 2023-24.

In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit was at Rs 4,35,176 crore as of August-end. In the Union Budget, the government projected to bring down the fiscal deficit to 4.9 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year. The deficit was 5.6 per cent of the GDP in 2023-24. In absolute terms, the government aims to contain the fiscal deficit at Rs 16,13,312 crore during the current fiscal.

The central government’s total earnings during the April-August period of FY25 stood at Rs 12.17 lakh crore, which is 38 per cent of the full year target. The total receipts included Rs 8.73 lakh crore tax revenue (net to centre), Rs 3.34 lakh crore non-tax Revenue and Rs 8,866 crore of non-debt capital receipts. Rs 4,55,717 crore has been transferred to State Governments as Devolution of Share of Taxes by Government of India upto this period which is Rs 73,235 crore higher than the previous year.

The central government’s total expenditure in the five months through August stood at Rs 16.5 lakh crore or 34.3 per cent of BE. The expenditure was 37.1 per cent of the BE in the year-ago period. Of the total expenditure, Rs 13,51,367 crore was in the revenue account and Rs 3,00,987 crore was in the capital account. Out of the total revenue expenditure, Rs 4,00,160 crore was towards interest payments and Rs 1,78,625 crore is on account of Major Subsidies.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25767.65, down by 43.20 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 25739.20 and 25907.60. There were 16 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.78%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.04%, Infosys up by 1.45%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.36% and Britannia up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.52%, Asian Paints down by 2.23%, ONGC down by 1.73%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.46% and Titan Company down by 1.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 732.42 points or 1.89% to 38,651.97, Taiwan Weighted added 165.85 points or 0.74% to 22,390.39 and Jakarta Composite was up by 101.03 points or 1.34% to 7,628.96. On the flip side, Straits Times was down by 1.79 points or 0.05% to 3,583.50.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 21.64 points or 0.26% to 8,258.59 and Germany’s DAX was up by 54.36 points or 0.28% to 19,379.29. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 11.51 points or 0.15% to 7,624.24.