Indices end lower for third straight session

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for the third straight session on Thursday as some of the quarterly results of key companies failed to impress the markets. Intense selling in realty, auto, consumer discretionary and consumer durable stocks also dragged the markets lower. Markets made flat-to-positive start but soon slipped into red terrain amid unabated foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,435.94 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Some concern also came as report stated that Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has stressed the need to manufacture high-quality products, saying without this approach it is going to be very difficult to make India truly competitive.   

Key gauges extended losses and were deeply in the red in late afternoon deals, even as the government data showed India’s merchandise export growth turned positive for the first time in three months. India’s merchandise exports in September slightly rose to $34.58 billion against $34.41 billion a year ago. Imports increased by 1.6 per cent to $55.36 billion in September compared to $54.49 billion in the year-ago period. Traders took note of report that credit rating agency ICRA has projected the combined capital spending of a sample of 13 major state governments to expand by 13% to Rs 6.5 trillion in FY25. However, this entails a miss, relative to the FY25 Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 7.2 trillion, following a dull start to the capex in the initial months of this fiscal as well as the anticipated undershooting in states’ revenues.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher amid bets that the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce an interest-rate cut later in the day, responding to falling inflation and worsening economic conditions. Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday with Chinese and Hong Kong markets giving up early gains to end sharply lower after China announced supportive measures to prop up the country's troubled property sector, albeit on a small scale. Back home, on the sectoral front, renewable energy industry stocks were in focus after a report by CRISIL stated that India’s renewable energy capacity is expected to grow at twice the rate of the country’s overall energy capacity growth.

Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 494.75 points or 0.61% to 81,006.61, and the CNX Nifty was down by 221.45 points or 0.89% to 24,749.85. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 81,781.40 and 80,905.64 respectively. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.65%, while Small cap index was down by 1.42%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.13% and TECK up by 0.55%, while Realty down by 3.76%, Auto down by 3.48%, Consumer Discretionary down by 2.45%, Consumer Durables down by 2.28% and Telecom down by 2.13% were the top losing indices on BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 2.58%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.39%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.30%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.02% and SBI up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 3.35%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.34%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.70%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.28% and Titan Company down by 1.99% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's merchandise exports rose marginally by 0.5 per cent to $34.58 billion in September 2024 as against $34.41 billion a year ago. India's merchandise exports declined by 9.3 per cent year-on-year in August 2024. Imports increased by 1.6 per cent to $55.36 billion in September 2024 as compared to $54.49 billion in the year-ago period. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, was $20.78 billion during the month under review. 

According to the data, merchandise exports during April-September 2024 were $213.22 billion as compared to $211.08 billion during April-September 2023. Merchandise imports during April-September 2024 were $350.66 billion as compared to $330.32 billion during April-September 2023. Merchandise trade deficit during April-September 2024 was $137.44 billion as compared to $119.24 billion during April-September 2023.  

It further stated that non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in September 2024 were $27.03 billion compared to $24.76 billion in September 2023. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in April-September 2024 were $162.77 billion, compared to $153.71 billion in April-September 2023. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in September 2024 were $36.49 billion compared to $34.21 billion in September 2023. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in April-September 2024 were $222.72 billion, compared to $211.34 billion in April-September 2023.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 25,029.50 and 24,728.90. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Infosys up by 2.84%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.81%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.21%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.95% and SBI up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 13.11%, Shriram Finance down by 4.11%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.52%, Nestle down by 3.44% and Hero MotoCorp down by 3.39% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 28.83 points or 0.35% to 8,357.90, France’s CAC rose 85.34 points or 1.14% to 7,577.34 and Germany’s DAX gained 145.31 points or 0.75% to 19,578.12.