Markets wipe out opening losses to trade flat with positive bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Wednesday following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight as well as mixed cues from Asian counterparts, as some traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets and booked some profits. Also, the value of core machine orders in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent on month in August. Closer home, soon markets managed to wipe out their losses and are trading flat with positive bias in early deals as investors preferred to buy stocks at lower levels. Overnight fall in crude oil prices also aided domestic sentiments. Oil prices slid to a near two-week low, extending Monday's losses amid easing supply pressures arising from the conflict in the Middle East, amid reports Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would avoid striking Iranian oil targets. 

On the sectoral front, telecom stocks are in focus after communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India is resolved to lead the world in 6G, and termed the telecom sector of the country as aggressive and ambitious. He added said with the Bharat 6G Alliance, India hopes to contribute at least 10 per cent patents to 6G standardisation. In stock specific development, Bank of Maharashtra advanced as it posted a 44 percent jump in its second-quarter profit.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81864.48, up by 44.36 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 81579.37 and 81885.30. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.13%, while Small cap index was up by 0.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.92%, Power up by 0.66%, Oil & Gas up by 0.56%, Metal up by 0.52% and Capital Goods up by 0.51%, while Auto down by 0.54%, IT down by 0.43%, Realty down by 0.40%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.31% and TECK down by 0.23% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 0.84%, Sun Pharma up by 0.73%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.68%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.68% and Asian Paints up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.64%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.58%, TCS down by 0.88%, Indusind Bank down by 0.79% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra has said the retail inflation is projected to average 4.5 per cent in 2024-25 and align with the target on a durable basis by 2025-26. The government has tasked the RBI to ensure that consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation at 4 per cent with a tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent around it. The inflation has remained below 6 per cent in the last three months.

Patra also stressed that the Indian experience is unique in view of the incidence of repetitive shocks to food and fuel prices, which challenged the conduct of monetary policy. He said in India, price stability is a shared responsibility under which the government sets the target, and the central bank achieves it. This allows monetary-fiscal coordination without posing risks to financial stability, fiscal consolidation or growth - perhaps a template for countries vulnerable to inflationary pressures emanating from supply shocks.

He further said that in the years ahead, the conduct of inflation targeting (IT) - based monetary policy may face even greater challenges. Central banks face an existential threat to their central mandates from climate change through supply shocks such as food and energy shortages and a decline in productive capacity. He added that while formulating monetary policy, it is considered good housekeeping to evaluate the balance of risks. From this perspective, IT policy frameworks of the future need to be more robust, realistic and nimble, while exploiting synergies with prudential, fiscal and structural policies and leveraging.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25078.75, up by 21.40 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 24994.65 and 25084.05. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.79%, Hindalco up by 1.33%, BPCL up by 1.29%, HDFC Bank up by 0.96% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.91%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 1.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.61%, Trent down by 1.42%, TCS down by 0.81% and Indusind Bank down by 0.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 683.96 points or 1.71% to 39,226.59, Taiwan Weighted lost 76.58 points or 0.33% to 23,215.46, KOSPI dropped 12.33 points or 0.47% to 2,621.12 and Jakarta Composite was down by 4.12 points or 0.05% to 7,622.83. On the other hand, Hang Seng advanced 181.65 points or 0.89% to 20,500.44, Straits Times rose 16.86 points or 0.47% to 3,612.33 and Shanghai Composite was up by 12.72 points or 0.4% to 3,214.01.