Benchmarks trade marginally lower in late morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks were trading marginally lower in late morning deals, led by losses in Auto, Metal and Consumer discretionary stocks. Traders remained cautious as data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed India’s retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), escalated to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent due to high food prices. In August, CPI inflation came in at 3.65 per cent, marginally higher than 3.6 per cent the previous month. The previous high was recorded in December 2023 at 5.69 per cent. However, losses remain capped as some support came with US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) President and CEO Mukesh Aghi emphasised that exports are going to be a major job creator for India as the country moves towards becoming a $5 trillion economy. Aghi also stressed that India and the US should continue to strengthen their economic engagements and increase the bilateral trade to $500 billion going forward. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green after major U.S. indexes rallied to new records overnight on relief that interest rates are finally heading back down and that the economy is on a solid footing.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81873.81, down by 99.24 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 81636.67 and 82300.44. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.51%, Capital Goods up by 0.38%, TECK up by 0.21%, PSU up by 0.20% and FMCG up by 0.19%, while Auto down by 0.91%, Metal down by 0.82%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.33%, Realty down by 0.21% and Basic Materials down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.10%, Asian Paints up by 1.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.82%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.39% and Infosys up by 0.38%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.74%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.52%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.99%, JSW Steel down by 0.92% and Tata Steel down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after remaining within the Reserve Bank of India's median target of 4 per cent during July and August, India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based -- retail inflation jumped to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September 2024 from 3.65 per cent in August 2024, with soaring vegetable prices. The CPI was 5.02 per in September 2023. The previous high inflation rate was witnessed in December 2023 at 5.69 per cent. The inflation rate in the food basket rose to 9.24 per cent in September compared to 5.66 per cent in August and 6.62 per cent in the year-ago month. The National Statistical Office (NSO) said it is likely that the increase in inflation rate for the month of September 2024 is due to high base effect and weather conditions. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which kept the key short-term lending rate unchanged earlier this month, has been asked by the government to ensure the CPI inflation rate remains at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.

The NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its data has showed that Rural CPI (General) in September 2024 stood at 5.87 per cent over 4.16 per cent in August 2024. The Urban CPI (General) stood at 5.05 per cent in September as against 3.14 per cent in August. The index value for Rural, Urban and Combined CPI (General) stood at 196.7, 191.4 and 194.2 respectively, in September 2024. The price data is 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 September 2024, NSO collected prices from 99.7% villages and 98.6% urban markets while the market-wise prices reported therein were 88.2% for rural and 92.2% for urban. 

The surge in food and beverages inflation in September 2024 vis-a-vis August 2024 was largely led by vegetable inflation, which surged to a 14-month high of 35.99 per cent from 10.71 per cent in the previous month. Food and beverages, which accounts for 45.86 per cent of the total weight of Consumer Price Index (Combined), registered an inflation rate of 8.36 per cent in September, up from 5.30 per cent in August. Inflation rate for fruits rose to 7.65 per cent and from 6.45 per cent. For milk and milk products, the inflation rate was 3.03 per cent as against 2.98 per cent in August. The inflation rate for meat and fish, egg segments came down at 2.66 per cent and 6.31 per cent from 4.30 per cent and 7.14 per cent, respectively. The Fuel and light inflation rate for September stood at (-) 1.39 per cent as against (-) 5.31 per cent in August. For clothing & footwear and housing sectors, the inflation rates were 2.71 per cent and 2.78 per cent, respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25095.95, down by 32.00 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 25014.10 and 25212.05. There were 21 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.85%, Asian Paints up by 1.34%, ICICI Bank up by 1.17%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.07% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.84%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.10%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.58%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.50%, ONGC down by 1.43% and Wipro down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 446.3 points or 1.13% to 40,052.10, Taiwan Weighted added 313.26 points or 1.36% to 23,288.55, KOSPI increased 6.54 points or 0.25% to 2,629.83, Straits Times rose 10.02 points or 0.28% to 3,605.93 and Jakarta Composite gained 44.2 points or 0.58% to 7,603.86.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 32.97 points or 1% to 3,251.35 and Hang Seng declined 373.65 points or 1.77% to 20,719.22.