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Indian equity benchmarks came off day’s low points in early afternoon deals, but remained lower, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders remained cautious as Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that India's debt ratio is projected to be 84 per cent of its GDP by the end of 2022, which is higher than many emerging economies, but its debt is a little bit easier to sustain. Adding some worries among traders, the US Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman said that 'sizable increase' in the key interest rate would remain on the table if inflation continues to remain on the higher side. However, she believes a slower pace of rate increases would be appropriate if and if inflation starts to decline.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower as producer prices in Japan spiked 9.7 percent on year in September. That far exceeded expectations for an increase of 8.8 percent and accelerated from the upwardly revised 9.4 percent increase in August (originally 9.0 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices advanced 0.7 percent - again topping forecasts for 0.2 percent and up from the upwardly revised 0.4 percent in the previous month (originally 0.2 percent).

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57140.55, down by 485.36 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 57055.75 and 57568.14. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.92%, while Small cap index was down by 0.63%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.18%, while Telecom down by 1.62%, Bankex down by 1.37%, Capital Goods down by 1.36%, Realty down by 1.34% and Industrials down by 1.14% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech. up by 2.83%, Sun Pharma up by 1.54%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.43%, Reliance Industries up by 0.25% and Nestle up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 6.90%, SBI down by 2.13%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.11%, ICICI Bank down by 1.78% and Tata Steel down by 1.59% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil's research wing in its latest report has said that India Inc is likely to report a three per cent year-on-year fall in profits for the July-September period (Q2FY23). This fall in profitability will be the fourth straight quarter of the decline in profits for the listed companies. Profitability is seen declining 300 basis points (bps) due to elevated commodity prices.

The report, based on research of 300 companies from 47 sectors, said that rising revenue momentum is not translating into profit margin proportionately. The revenues are expected to rise by 15 per cent during the quarter when compared to the year-ago period, attributing it to moderate price hikes and steadily rising volumes. It can be noted that starting earlier this week, major companies have been reporting their earnings for the July-September period. On a sequential basis, that is when compared with the performance in Q1, the corporate revenue has declined by 3 per cent.

The report said nearly half of the 47 sectors have outpaced overall revenue growth during the quarter, with key sectors within consumer discretionary services logging maximum year-on-year growth. The underperforming sectors include construction-linked, consumer staples and industrial commodities verticals. Consumer discretionary services, which accounted for 8 per cent of overall revenue, are estimated to have grown 35 per cent year-on-year, largely due to revenue more than doubling in sectors, such as airline services on account of a rise in passenger traffic and high fares and hotels due to the increase in occupancy and room tariff.

It further said the IT services sector will report a 15-17 per cent rise in revenues, aided by the rapid adoption of digital platforms across the world. It said the construction-linked sectors, which accounted for 16 per cent of overall revenue, grew only 5 per cent on-year in the September quarter, adding that the largest contributor steel products likely to de-grew by 3 per cent after a continued run-up in revenue growth over the past eight quarters.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17003.80, down by 119.80 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 16956.95 and 17112.35. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech. up by 2.84%, Sun Pharma up by 1.56%, Hindalco up by 0.70%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.45% and Coal India up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 7.02%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.90%, SBI down by 1.99%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.96% and SBI Life Insurance down by 1.87% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; KOSPI fell 39.60 points or 1.8% to 2,162.87, Straits Times trembled 39.50 points or 1.28% to 3,043.69, Shanghai Composite declined 6.62 points or 0.22% to 3,018.89, Jakarta Composite lost 4.94 points or 0.07% to 6,904.27, Taiwan Weighted dropped 270.51 points or 2.07% to 12,810.73, Nikkei 225 slipped 159.41 points or 0.6% to 26,237.42 and Hang Seng was down by 209.94 points or 1.26% to 16,491.09.

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