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Extending losses to a third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks ended over half a percent each lower on Thursday, as weak global cues impacted sentiment. Losses across most sectors, led by metal, auto and capital goods, pulled the headline indices lower. After making cautious start, key gauges fell sharply and continued downside move throughout the day, as traders got anxious with a private report stating that even though the overall outlook for corporates have improved on the back of faster than expected recovery, and the same is likely to gain further traction in H2 but the rising commodity prices and logistics cost pose headwinds to their profitability. Traders took a note of former RBI Deputy Governor N S Vishwanathan’s statement that money laundering and lack of clarity on valuations are the primary concerns of central banks in being circumspect about the introduction of cryptocurrencies.  He also said that if the government goes ahead and allows cryptocurrencies, bankers need to be wary and not confuse persons’ wealth with the amount of crypto assets they hold even if they do not use it as collateral for lending.

Domestic markets however, recovered some of losses in the late afternoon trading, as traders got some support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that there are clear signs of an uptick in the economy and the industry should now start taking risks and invest in capacity creation that will help cut reliance on imports. She also asked the industry to offer jobs to reduce income disparity and cut down on importing finished goods reduce and instead ramp up investment in manufacturing. But markets failed to trim all losses and ended lower, even as Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman Bibek Debroy said that India is on a path towards a higher growth trajectory, higher poverty reduction, higher employment, and a prosperous, more developed and better governed India and the country’s Gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to grow at around 10 percent in 2021-22.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, while European markets were trading mostly in red, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street, on a drop in crude oil prices and as traders are concerned about the near-term outlook for the markets and economy following recent volatility amid concerns about inflation and reports showing a rise in coronavirus cases in several countries in the region and Europe. Back home, on the sectoral front, sugar stocks were in focus as industry body ISMA said India’s sugar production rose 24 per cent to 20.9 lakh tonnes during October 1-November 15 on higher output in Maharashtra and Karnataka, while mills have entered into contracts to export 25 lakh tonnes of sweetener so far. Stocks related to leather industry were in watch as Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal said that India's leather industry should aspire to be at the number 1 position in the world.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 372.32 points or 0.62% to 59,636.01 and the CNX Nifty was down by 133.85 points or 0.75% to 17,764.80. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 60,177.52 and 59,376.50, respectively and there were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.    

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.68%, while Small cap index was down by 1.52%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.76%, Auto down by 2.32%, Capital Goods down by 1.89%, Basic Materials down by 1.77% and Industrials down by 1.70%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 1.16%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.63%, HDFC Bank up by 0.58%, Reliance Industries up by 0.35% and ICICI Bank up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.28%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.19%, HCL Technologies down by 2.88%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.74% and Tata Steel down by 2.72% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said there are clear signs of an uptick in the economy and the industry should now start taking risks and invest in capacity creation that will help cut reliance on imports.

Sitharaman said ‘I appeal to industry not to further delay increasing capacity, not to further delay looking at areas to partner in technology’. Further, she also asked the industry to offer jobs to reduce income disparity and cut down on importing finished goods reduce and instead ramp up investment in manufacturing.

She added ‘at a time when India is looking at impetus to growth, I want Indian industry to be a lot more risk-taking and understand what India wants.’ Besides, she said Prime Minister Modi has asked all ministers to identify compliance burdens for the industry in their respective ministries and departments, and simplify them.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,945.60 and 17,688.50 and there were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 1.04%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 0.58%, HDFC Bank up by 0.50%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.50% and Reliance Industries up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 3.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.50%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.31%, HCL Technologies down by 2.99% and Larsen & Toubro down by 2.91% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 7.98 points or 0.11% to 7,283.22 and Germany’s DAX decreased 0.52 points or 0% to 16,250.61, while France’s CAC increased 8.46 points or 0.12% to 7,165.31.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, tracking weakness in Wall Street overnight on persistent inflation woes with uncertainty over early interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Chinese shares declined after embattled China Evergrande Group is set to raise about $273 million by selling its remaining shares in film production and streaming company HengTen Network Group as the cash-strapped developer struggles to avoid a default on its debts. Seoul shares dropped as the country reported its biggest daily jump in corona-virus infections since the start of the pandemic. Moreover, Japanese shares retreated in spite of reports of bigger-than-expected economic stimulus package from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

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