Sensex, Nifty trade lower in early deals amid higher retail inflation

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Wednesday following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight coupled with weakness in Asian counterparts as weak commodity prices are triggering some heavy selling in energy and materials sectors. Traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the highly anticipated report on US consumer price inflation later in the day. Sensex and Nifty are trading lower with notable losses in early deals amid sustain foreign fund outflows and sharp rise in retail inflation. Retail inflation breached the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance level, soaring to a 14-month high of 6.21 per cent in October mainly on account of rising food prices. Inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 5.49 per cent in September and 4.87 per cent in the year-ago month. Besides, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling on November 12 as they offload equities more than Rs 3000 crore.

Traders overlooked report that India Exim Bank said India’s merchandise exports are likely to grow 1.85% year-on-year to $107.5 billion in the third quarter of FY25 on the back of sustained momentum in economic activity and improving demand prospects in trading partners supported by expected global monetary easing. On the sectoral front, banking stocks are in focus as the finance ministry said public sector banks (PSBs) have shown robust performance in the first half of the current fiscal year with a 26 per cent growth in net profit, increase in business and decline in non-performing assets (NPAs). In stock specific development, Hyundai Motor slipped as it Q2 net profit declines in first results post listing.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 78387.25, down by 287.93 points or 0.37% after trading in a range of 78368.82 and 78690.02. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.68%, while Small cap index was down by 2.40%.

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Bankex up by 0.11%, while Industrials down by 2.04%, Metal down by 1.92%, Auto down by 1.86%, Capital Goods down by 1.84% and Healthcare down by 1.83% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.30%, HDFC Bank up by 0.50%, Axis Bank up by 0.44%, ICICI Bank up by 0.43% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.41%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.24%, Tata Steel down by 2.39%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.76%, Nestle down by 1.50% and Sun Pharma down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the country could save Rs 91,000 crore on the import bill through biofuel blending and this money could be utilized for the benefit of the agricultural sector. He said India has achieved the second position in biofuel blending globally, underscoring its leading position in sustainable fuel practices.

He expressed confidence that India will achieve the target of 20 percent biofuel blending by next year, much ahead of the schedule. He stated ‘As our refineries take to green energy, the country will succeed in the goal towards green hydrogen.’ He said India’s crude oil refining capacity has reached 400 to 450 million metric tons per annum, which is one-third of the global average.

Further, emphasizing India’s refining sector, Puri noted India has the capability to process over 250 types of crude oil, with refining capacity anticipated to grow from the current 258 MMTPA to 310 MMTPA. India’s refining expansion, coupled with petrochemical integration, positions India well on its way towards a flexible, efficient energy transition.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23722.65, down by 160.80 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 23708.65 and 23873.60. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.24%, HDFC Bank up by 0.48%, Axis Bank up by 0.43%, ICICI Bank up by 0.34% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.28%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 3.36%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.53%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.51%, Eicher Motors down by 2.49% and Tata Steel down by 2.41% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 429.71 points or 1.09% to 38,946.38, Hang Seng declined 130.03 points or 0.66% to 19,716.85, KOSPI dropped 51.71 points or 2.08% to 2,430.86, Taiwan Weighted lost 18.12 points or 0.08% to 22,963.65 and Shanghai Composite weakened 0.17 points or 0% to 3,421.80. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite rose 9.45 points or 0.13% to 7,331.44 and Straits Times was up by 0.97 points or 0.03% to 3,712.45.