Key gauges trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in red in morning deals, due to losses in Oil & Gas, FMCG and Energy stocks. Traders remained cautious with Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that interest rate cut this stage would have been premature and very very risky as the retail inflation is still high, and future monetary policy action would depend upon the income data and outlook. He said the September inflation was high and the next print too is expected to remain elevated before moderating. Some concern also came as data shared the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that India's foreign exchange reserves have experienced a notable decline for the second consecutive week, dipping by $10.7 billion to stand at $690 billion as of October 11. Sector-wise, telecom stocks remained in watch as the DoT's apex decision-making body Digital Communication Commission Member Manish Sinha said telecom sector revenue may cross Rs 5 trillion in the next two years in line with the present growth trend fuelled by ease of doing business measures introduced by the government in the last 2-3 years. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as traders assessed the rate cut announced by China’s central bank on Monday. The people’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would cut the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) to 3.1 per cent, down 25 bps, while the five-year LPR has been trimmed to 3.6 per cent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81147.72, down by 77.03 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 80811.23 and 81770.02. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.24%, while Small cap index was down by 0.56%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas down by 1.36%, FMCG down by 1.17%, Energy down by 1.09%, PSU down by 0.97% and Auto down by 0.61%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 3.51%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.35%, Asian Paints up by 0.91%, Axis Bank up by 0.64% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.50%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 5.87%, Indusind Bank down by 2.40%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.51% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) in its data has showed said that automobile exports from India in the first six months of the current fiscal year (FY25) rose 14 per cent year-on-year, led by gains in shipments of passenger vehicles and two-wheelers. According to it, the overall exports in the April-September period stood at 25,28,248 units, up 14 per cent as compared with 22,11,457 units in the year-ago period.

Total passenger vehicle shipments rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 3,76,679 units in the first half of the current fiscal year as against 3,36,754 units in same period of FY24. Commercial vehicle exports rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 35,731 units in the first six months of the fiscal year.  Two-wheeler exports rose 16 per cent year-on-year to 19,59,145 units in the April-September period this fiscal year as compared with 16,85,907 units in the year-ago period. Scooter shipments increased 19 per cent to 3,14,533 units while motorcycle exports rose 16 per cent to 16,41,804 units during the period under review

However, three-wheeler shipments declined 1 per cent during the period to 1,53,199 units as compared with 1,55,154 units in the April-September period of the 2023-24 fiscal year. Siam President Shailesh Chandra said ‘Key markets like Latin America and Africa, which had slowed down for various reasons, have bounced back. This has been the main reason for exports coming back.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24788.25, down by 65.80 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 24679.60 and 24978.30. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 3.46%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.36%, Wipro up by 1.71%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.13% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.04%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Product down by 8.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 5.94%, BPCL down by 3.17%, Indusind Bank down by 2.46% and ONGC down by 2.03% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 74.65 points or 0.19% to 39,056.40, Taiwan Weighted added 62.26 points or 0.27% to 23,549.53, KOSPI increased 17.43 points or 0.67% to 2,611.25, Jakarta Composite gained 21.78 points or 0.28% to 7,781.84 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 26.76 points or 0.81% to 3,288.32.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 114.72 points or 0.55% to 20,689.39 and Straits Times fell 16.34 points or 0.45% to 3,623.85.