Indian markets remain volatile during noon delas

Indian equity benchmarks remained volatile during early afternoon deals, on the back of mixed cues from other Asian markets along with selling at FMCG, Metal and Basic Materials counters. Sentiments were downbeat, as SBI forecasted India's GDP growth at 6.3%, lower than RBIs projection of 6.6% for FY25 in its latest report. Adding some worries, a private report stated that the political turmoil in Bangladesh has slowed down exports of gem and jewellery, imitation jewellery, engineering goods and oilmeals from India. The raw cotton, cotton yarn and textiles exporters are facing delays in payments, even though the buyers are depositing payments in local currency Bangladeshi Taka. However, due to dollar shortage, banks are finding it difficult to convert Taka into dollars, resulting in payment delays.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, even after China's consumer price inflation eased unexpectedly to a five-month low in November and producer prices continued to fall suggesting that the sequence of stimulus measures initiated by Beijing had limited impact on reviving domestic demand. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the consumer price index posted an annual increase of 0.2 percent. Inflation was expected to rise to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent in October.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81593.33, down by 115.79 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 81411.55 and 81783.28. There were 8 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged by 0.30%, while Small cap index was up by 0.48%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.07%, Industrials up by 0.90%, Consumer Durables up by 0.53%, Power up by 0.35% and Telecom up by 0.30%, while FMCG down by 1.89%, Metal down by 0.97%, Basic Materials down by 0.49%, Auto down by 0.39% and TECK down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.07%, HDFC Bank up by 1.07%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.89%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.63% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.50%, Nestle down by 1.88%, Tata Motors down by 1.35%, Axis Bank down by 1.24% and Asian Paints down by 1.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that India will continue to grow at 6-8 per cent for the next five years due to the transformative changes ushered in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the face of global turmoil and geopolitical tensions. He said India's growth story was based on four pillars of massive public investments, focus on manufacturing and innovation, inclusive growth and simplification of laws.

Vaishnaw said the world saw India as a ray of hope in times of global turmoil, two wars, disruption of supply chains and the hit taken by the world economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He credited Modi's considered thought process and clearly laid out plans for India's sustained economic growth. He said ‘we can say with a very high degree of confidence that India will continue to grow at 6-8 per cent real growth, 10-14 per cent nominal growth and a very moderate inflation for the coming five years and this confidence is due to the change that has happened in people's lives’.

The minister said the policies pursued by Modi have led to the re-election of his government for the third consecutive term at a time when world over governments are facing anti-incumbency. But in such a big, vibrant and vocal democracy, people have reelected a government for the third consecutive time. This is because people have witnessed transformative change in their lives.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24635.65, down by 42.15 points or 0.17% after trading in a range of 24580.05 and 24705.00. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.99%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.83%, HDFC Bank up by 1.14%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.85% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 3.78%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.46%, Hindalco down by 2.13%, Nestle down by 2.00% and Britannia down by 1.52% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 76.06 points or 0.38% to 19,789.79, Shanghai Composite weakened 2.66 points or 0.08% to 3,401.42, Straits Times fell 5.54 points or 0.15% to 3,790.62 and KOSPI dropped 67.58 points or 2.86% to 2,360.58, while Jakarta Composite gained 32.38 points or 0.44% to 7,415.17, Nikkei 225 surged 69.33 points or 0.18% to 39,160.50 and Taiwan Weighted added 79.98 points or 0.34% to 23,273.25.