Indian equity benchmarks made slightly negative start on Friday amid foreign fund outflows. The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on the 15th consecutive day as they sold equities worth Rs 5,462.52 crore on January 23. Soon, markets turned volatile and are hovering around neutral lines in early deals amid selling at Healthcare and Industrials stocks. Sentiments were cautious as Moody's Ratings said the Indian rupee has depreciated by around 5 per cent in the last two years and has fallen by 20 per cent in the last five years making it one of the weakest performing currencies in South and South East Asia. However, downside remained capped amid a labour ministry statement that retail inflation for farm and rural workers eased to 5.01 per cent and 5.05 per cent in December from 5.35 per cent and 5.47 per cent, respectively, in November 2024. Also, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India is poised for a global leadership position in the area of artificial innovation just like it has proven its mettle in IT services.
On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly higher following the positive cues from Wall Street overnight, on hopes some major central banks, including the US Fed will lower interest rates in the first quarter after US President Donald Trump said he will ‘demand that interest rates drop immediately’ in the US to stimulate domestic growth. Uncertainty about Trump's trade policies and tariff threats limited the upside. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan hiked interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5 per cent, bringing its policy rate to its highest level since 2008.
Back home, banking stocks are in focus as rating agency Fitch said the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian banks may decline by 40 basis points to 2.4 per cent by March 2025 and a further 20 basis points in the next financial year. In stock specific development, Dr Reddy's traded under pressure following its Q3 show. The quarter highlighted declining revenue contribution from Revlimid, which also weighed on margins.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76493.42, down by 26.96 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 76454.18 and 76802.73. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.75%, while Small cap index was down by 0.93%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.40%, TECK up by 0.36%, Power up by 0.13%, IT up by 0.12% and Metal up by 0.07%, while Healthcare down by 1.28%, Industrials down by 0.92%, Capital Goods down by 0.84%, Consumer Durables down by 0.73% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.02%, Infosys up by 0.97%, NTPC up by 0.90%, TCS up by 0.72% and Axis Bank up by 0.67%. On the flip side, Zomato down by 1.94%, Indusind Bank down by 1.14%, Tata Motors down by 1.10%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.79% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Moody's Ratings in its report on Corporates' South and Southeast Asia Emerging Markets has said the Indian rupee depreciated by around 5 per cent in the last two years and has fallen by 20 per cent in the last five years (since January 2020) making it one of the weakest performing currencies in South and South East Asia.
Of the 23 rated Indian companies, Moody's assessed only six to be exposed to the effects of dollar strength, but these companies have sufficient mitigating factors.
These companies are the three oil refining and marketing companies (OMCs), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), building materials producer UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel and ride sharing company ANI Technologies.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23182.75, down by 22.60 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 23177.80 and 23292.05. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 1.32%, Infosys up by 0.68%, JSW Steel up by 0.67%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.62% and BPCL up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 4.35%, Apollo Hospital down by 1.64%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.48%, Tata Motors down by 1.29% and Indusind Bank down by 1.27% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng jumped 361.05 points or 1.83% to 20,061.61, Nikkei 225 surged 127.93 points or 0.32% to 40,086.80, Shanghai Composite strengthened 23.63 points or 0.73% to 3,253.79 and KOSPI increased 16.18 points or 0.64% to 2,531.67. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite fell 21.49 points or 0.3% to 7,211.15 and Straits Times was down by 3.2 points or 0.08% to 3,803.37.