IGI Logo

Bears were holding tight grip over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in deep red, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders got cautious after the Commerce Ministry's foreign trade arm DGFT will deactivate all importer-exporter codes (IECs) that have not been updated after January 1, 2014, with effect from December 6, 2021, a move which would help in knowing the actual number of real traders in the country. The street paid no heed towards reports that retirement fund body EPFO net added 15.41 lakh subscribers in September 2021, reflecting a growing trend in net payroll additions post the second wave of the pandemic.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after China maintained its benchmark loan prime rates for the 19th consecutive month, as widely expected. The one-year loan prime rate was kept unchanged at 3.85 percent and the five-year LPR at 4.65 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58913.47, down by 722.54 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 58884.71 and 59778.37. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.70%, while Small cap index was down by 1.89%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 3.20% and TECK up by 0.28%, while Energy down by 3.13%, Realty down by 2.79%, Consumer Durables down by 2.48%, Auto down by 2.24% and Oil & Gas down by 2.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 4.31%, Asian Paints up by 1.89%, Power Grid up by 1.07% and TCS up by 0.97%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.52%, Reliance Industries down by 3.57%, SBI down by 3.23%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.17% and Titan Co down by 2.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, minister of state for commerce and industry Som Parkash has said that the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has been in close consultation with the industry and has been working on a draft National Retail Policy to strengthen the overall ecosystem of the sector. He said to create balanced growth in the ecosystem, it is imperative to focus on creating an overarching retail policy for the country. Although a few states have created their own retail policies, he said it is important to have an overarching policy at the central level.

Parkash said as retail encompasses a variety of formats across various categories, the creation of a policy that addresses all these segments is a complex exercise. However, he said, the government is striving to release a policy in the near future and there are three areas that need to be focused on while formulating that. He said it should be a cohesive policy that addresses issues of licensing, approvals, labelling and safety, and it should also focus on modernisation and adoption of technology.

The minister said ‘we need to focus on helping traditional retail to modernise through the development of back-end infrastructure, payment mechanisms and in-store operations. From the government side, we would like to facilitate the above three areas and help retailers modernize.’ He also informed that the DPIIT is working towards creating a regulatory compliance portal that will act as a bridge for industries and government to minimise burdensome compliances.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17558.10, down by 206.70 points or 1.16% after trading in a range of 17549.15 and 17805.25. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharti Airtel up by 4.28%, Asian Paints up by 1.94%, TCS up by 0.96%, Power Grid up by 0.94% and Hindalco up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 4.48%, Reliance Industries down by 3.64%, Tata Motors down by 3.41%, ONGC down by 3.24% and SBI down by 3.22% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI rose 36.49 points or 1.23% to 3,007.51, Nikkei 225 surged 25.02 points or 0.08% to 29,770.89, Shanghai Composite gained 23.00 points or 0.65% to 3,583.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 14.92 points or 0.08% to 17,833.23 and Straits Times advanced 7.92 points or 0.25% to 3,240.26. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 27.99 points or 0.42% to 6,692.27 and Hang Seng decreased 87.86 points or 0.35% to 24,962.11.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer