Bears hold grip on Indian markets

Bears were holding their grip on Indian equity markets during early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty falling amid mixed cues from other Asian markets along with heavy selling at Realty and Industrials counters. Domestic sentiments remained pessimistic, amid a private report stating that India’s inflation breached the six-percent limit set by the Reserve Bank of India in October, rising to a 14-month high of 6.2 percent, dashing hopes of a rate cut in the December meeting. The street overlooked the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) latest report ‘the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) 2024’ stating that India has secured a spot in the global top 10 for all three major intellectual property (IP) rights - patents, trademarks, and industrial designs.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, as Indonesia's retail sales growth eased for the second straight month in October. The preliminary data from the Bank Indonesia showed that retail sales rose 1.0 percent year-on-year in October, slower than the 4.8 percent rise a month ago. The overall annual growth was mainly driven by increased sales of the cultural and recreational goods group, spare parts and accessories, and the clothing subgroup.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 78147.11, down by 528.07 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 78115.79 and 78690.02. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 1.83%, while Small cap index was down by 2.28%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 2.56%, Industrials down by 2.19%, Metal down by 2.15%, Basic Materials down by 1.99% and Capital Goods down by 1.96%., while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 1.42%, Tata Motors up by 0.39%, Titan up by 0.20%, ITC up by 0.13% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.10%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.12%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.96%, JSW Steel down by 2.18%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 1.61% and Power Grid down by 1.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Export Import Bank of India has said that India's merchandise exports are likely to grow 1.85 per cent to $107.5 billion in the October-December period of 2024. The non-oil exports will grow 7.39 per cent to $91.7 billion. Non-oil and non-gems and jewellery exports are forecast to amount $82.7 billion, which will be a growth of 7.8 per cent over the last year.

It said positive growth in India's exports could be as a result of India's continued strong economic activity backed by sustained momentum in manufacturing and services sector, improving demand prospects in trading partners, supported by expected global monetary easing. It noted that there are risks which make any outcome uncertain, including uncertain prospects in select advanced and emerging economies, geoeconomic fragmentation, the Middle East and West Asia crisis, risk of intensification of protectionist policies, and global supply chain disruptions.

The bank also exuded confidence that the fourth quarter will also see a rise in the overall merchandise exports. The estimates are arrived at using an in-house model to generate an Export Leading Index (ELI) for India to track and forecast the movement in India's exports on a quarterly basis.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23679.40, down by 204.05 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 23678.15 and 23873.60. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 1.35%, Trent up by 0.59%, Britannia up by 0.45%, Tata Motors up by 0.30% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.06%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.04%, Hero MotoCorp down by 3.45%, Eicher Motors down by 3.38%, Tata Steel down by 3.18% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 97.61 points or 0.49% to 19,749.27, KOSPI dropped 65.49 points or 2.71% to 2,417.08, Nikkei 225 slipped 654.43 points or 1.69% to 38,721.66 and Taiwan Weighted lost 121.54 points or 0.53% to 22,860.23, while Jakarta Composite gained 11 points or 0.15% to 7,332.99, Shanghai Composite strengthened 17.7 points or 0.52% to 3,439.67 and Straits Times rose 3.11 points or 0.08% to 3,714.59.