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Weak trade persisted over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty remaining below their respective neutral lines, despite positive cues from other Asian markets. Sentiments were pessimistic amid a private report stating that owing to decreased funding and crashes in late-stage deals, several startups in India may lose their Unicorn status. A company with a valuation of over $1 billion is considered to be a Unicorn in India. Adding more worries among traders, the finance ministry said that Indian fiscal and monetary authorities must remain watchful even as the nation is one of the bright spots amid a 'gloomy global scenario where the dark clouds of recession gather'.

The street also took a note of the Finance Ministry’s statement in its latest monthly economic report (MER) that India has performed better than developing peers, as well as developed G-20 partners in terms of growth and managed inflation better than most nations. However, the geopolitical situation may yet deteriorate, and inflation may see a resurgence in 2023 rather than a decline.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after South Korea's consumer confidence weakened in October after improving a month ago. The survey results from Bank of Korea showed that the consumer confidence index fell to 88.8 from 91.4 in the previous month. Among sub-indicators, the measures for current and future living standard dropped two points each to 83 and 84, respectively. The index measuring future household income decreased two points to 94, while that concerning future household spending gained one point to 110.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59715.83, down by 115.83 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 59595.81 and 60081.24. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.34%, while Small cap index was down by 0.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.94%, Auto up by 0.84%, PSU up by 0.78%, Capital Goods up by 0.73% and IT up by 0.63%, while FMCG down by 1.09%, Telecom down by 0.58%, Consumer Durables down by 0.38%, Bankex down by 0.32% and Utilities down by 0.27% were the top losing sectoral indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.23%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.84%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.47%, SBI up by 1.36% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.87%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.38%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.12%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.04% and Axis Bank down by 1.53% were the top losers on the Sensex.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in its latest report for September 2022 has said that as many as 384 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.52 lakh crore. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which monitors infrastructure projects of Rs 150 crore and above, out of 1,529 projects, 384 reported cost overruns and as many as 662 projects were delayed.

It mentioned total original cost of implementation of the 1529 projects was Rs 21,25,851.67 crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs 25,78,197.18 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs 4,52,345.51crore (21.28% of original cost). It also stated the expenditure incurred on these projects till September 2022 was Rs 13,78,142.29 crore, or 53.45 per cent of the anticipated cost of the projects. However, the number of delayed projects decreases to 531 if delay is calculated on the basis of latest schedule of completion.

Moreover, it said that for 603 projects, neither the year of commissioning nor the tentative gestation period has been reported. Out of the 662 delayed projects, 133 have overall delays in the range of 1-12 months, 124 have been delayed for 13-24 months, 276 projects for 25-60 months and 129 projects have been delayed for 61 months and above. The average time overrun in these 662 delayed projects is 42.08 months.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17698.20, down by 32.55 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 17665.80 and 17811.50. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.13%, JSW Steel up by 2.30%, Tata Motors up by 1.89%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.87% and Hindalco up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.91%, Britannia down by 2.63%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.43%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.25% and Bajaj Finserv down by 2.09% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Straits Times advanced 6.45 points or 0.22% to 2,976.40, Shanghai Composite gained 1.36 points or 0.05% to 2,978.92, Nikkei 225 surged 275.38 points or 1.02% to 27,250.28 and Hang Seng increased 13.10 points or 0.09% to 15,193.79, while KOSPI fell 2.07 points or 0.09% to 2,234.09, Jakarta Composite lost 7.15 points or 0.1% to 7,045.89 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 190.86 points or 1.48% to 12,666.12.

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