Bourses trade deep in red in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded deep in red in late afternoon session amid sell off in IT sector stocks. Traders were cautious ahead of HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data, which is scheduled to be released on November 04. Sentiments remained downbeat as Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest data has showed that the output of eight core industries slowed down to 2 per cent in September 2024. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as investors reacted to mixed earnings from U.S. technology companies and signals from the Bank of Japan that further rate rises were still on the horizon. European markets were trading lower as investors assessed the latest batch of earnings and awaited the closely watched preliminary euro zone inflation reading for clues to the ECB's rate trajectory.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79344.88, down by 597.30 points or 0.75% after trading in a range of 79334.88 and 80044.95. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green and red; the BSE Mid cap index declined by 0.75%, while Small cap index was up by 0.93%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.93%, Industrials up by 1.80%, Healthcare up by 1.75%, Utilities up by 0.56% and Power was up by 0.19%, while IT down by 2.42%, TECK down by 2.16%, Consumer Durables down by 1.33%, Bankex down by 0.85% and FMCG was down by 0.83% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 6.45%, Sun Pharma up by 0.59%, Power Grid up by 0.47% and JSW Steel up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.56%, HCL Tech down by 3.16%, TCS down by 2.35%, Infosys down by 2.17% and Asian Paints down by 2.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to boost trade and investments, India and Saudi Arabia have discussed ways to enhance cooperation in areas of fertilizers, petrochemicals and mining during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Saudi Minister for Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef in Riyadh.

India is the second largest trade partner for Saudi Arabia whereas Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trading partner. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $43 billion in 2023-24 as against $53 billion in 2022-23. Over 2,700 Indian companies are registered as joint ventures/100 per cent owned entities, with investments worth about $2 billion in the Kingdom.

Major Indian companies and corporate groups, including L&T, TATA, Wipro, TCS, TCIL, Shapoorji & Pallonji have established a strong presence in Saudi Arabia. Saudi's direct investments in India amounted to $3.22 billion during April 2000 and June 2024. Major Saudi investment groups include ARAMCO, SABIC, ZAMIL, E-holidays, and Al Batterjee Group.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24194.45, down by 146.40 points or 0.60% after trading in a range of 24181.90 and 24372.45. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 10.02%, Larsen & Toubro up by 6.30%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.91%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.76% and ONGC up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 4.79%, HCL Tech down by 3.19%, Shriram Finance down by 2.92%, TCS down by 2.39% and Infosys down by 2.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 196.14 points or 0.5% to 39,081.25, Hang Seng declined 63.31 points or 0.31% to 20,317.33 and KOSPI was down by 37.64 points or 1.47% to 2,556.15. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 11.36 points or 0.15% to 7,581.21 and Shanghai Composite was up by 13.58 points or 0.41% to 3,279.82.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 45.32 points or 0.56% to 8,114.31, France’s CAC fell 37.36 points or 0.5% to 7,391.00 and Germany’s DAX was down by 84.25 points or 0.44% to 19,173.09.