IGI Logo

Indian equity benchmarks recovered most of their intraday losses but ended marginally in red amid subdued global cues and persistent selling by foreign funds. Key gauges made a gap-down opening, as traders got anxious with Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj’s statement that excise duty cut on diesel and petrol prices will burden the government's coffers, but it has no plans to increase the borrowing immediately. Foreign fund outflow also weighted down on the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,445.25 crore on November 9, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders remained cautious with private report stated that hiring demand witnessed a dip of three per cent in October sequentially, mainly due to a decline in recruitment of professionals in purchase, logistics and supply chain after festive hiring hikes in September.

However, markets came off intraday low levels in late afternoon trading, as traders took some support with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country is poised to achieve a services export target of $1 trillion by the year 2030. He added that the sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes around 40 percent to India’s total global exports. Traders also took a note of report that the borrowing cost for the states has declined sharply to 6.81 percent at the weekly auctions held on November 9, mainly because they raised shorter tenor funds and 37 percent less than notified. Last week, the cost of debt for three states had peaked to the highest this fiscal at 7.02 per cent, up 12 bps over the previous week, despite most of the notified states drawing down less or not participating in the auctions.

On the global front, Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday, while European markets were trading mostly in red after the latest data from China showed broad-based inflation pressure on both the production side and the consumer side. China's property woes also rattled investors ahead of highly anticipated U.S. consumer inflation data due out later in the day. Back home, on the sectoral front, aviation stocks were in focus as ICRA report said domestic air passenger traffic grew by a whopping 67 per cent year-on-year at around 87-88 lakh in October, on the back of festive season demand amid continuous fall in the number of COVID-19 infection cases. Coal industry stocks were in action as the government said the country's total coal import dropped 12 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 94.15 million tonnes (MT) in April-August 2021, on account of a substantial reduction in the import of non-coking coal.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 80.63 points or 0.13% to 60,352.82 and the CNX Nifty was down by 31.90 points or 0.18% to 18,017.20.           

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 60,506.50 and 59,967.45, respectively and there were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.    

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.50%, while Small cap index was down by 0.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 2.16%, Energy up by 0.93%, Oil & Gas up by 0.80%, Auto up by 0.51% and Healthcare up by 0.17%, while Metal down by 2.07%, Realty down by 1.64%, PSU down by 0.85%, Consumer Durables down by 0.84% and Basic Materials down by 0.84% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 3.16%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.00%, Reliance Industries up by 1.16%, Sun Pharma up by 1.14% and ITC up by 0.90%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.38%, Tata Steel down by 2.77%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23%, Asian Paints down by 1.14% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, terming the 'Services' sector as the key driver of India's economic growth, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the country is poised to achieve a services export target of $1 trillion by the year 2030. He added that the sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes around 40 percent to India’s total global exports. Services trade surplus was $89 billion in FY 2020-21 and it has been the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) recipient (53 percent of FDI inflows 2000-2021).

Lauding India's commitment to enable ‘work from home’ during the pandemic, Goyal said that while services trade remained depressed in other countries, India’s services sector showed immense resilience. He added ‘Sectors like tourism, hospitality, etc. which suffered due to COVID-19 are showing revival signs’. The minister said that in 2020, India became the 7th largest services exporter in the world, moving up the ladder by two positions. Also, Services PMI rose to a decade high of 58.4 in October 21.

Emphasizing that the Service sector is country’s competitive advantage, powered by Skills, startups and IT Solutions, the Minister said that India's services have the twin power of universal acceptance and universal attraction. The Union Minister also highlighted the central government's initiatives Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, collateral-free Automatic Loans for Businesses and MSMEs and initiatives in Skill development and said ‘Rs 56,027 crore was released under various Export Promotion schemes’.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 18,061.25 and 17,915.00 and there were 22 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining, while 1 stock remains unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.37%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.96%, Britannia up by 2.03% and Reliance Industries up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 3.35%, Indusind Bank down by 3.26%, Tata Steel down by 2.88%, JSW Steel down by 2.23% and Coal India down by 2.23% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC decreased 14.52 points or 0.21% to 7,028.75 and Germany’s DAX decreased 8.37 points or 0.05% to 16,032.10, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 40.55 points or 0.56% to 7,314.59.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday tracking weakness in US stocks overnight after data showed producer prices increased solidly in October, suggesting high inflation could persist for a while. Meanwhile, latest data from China showed that the country's factory gate inflation hit a 26-year high in October and consumer price rises also quickened. Investors are awaiting highly anticipated US consumer inflation data due out later in the day. Chinese shares ended lower after Chinese property developer Fantasia Holdings said that it has received notices from certain lenders seeking repayment of loans that aren't due. Seoul shares declined amid concerns that rising price pressures may force the US Federal reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected. Japanese shares fell despite hopes that Kishida's government will launch a fresh round of stimulus measures to prop up the economy.

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