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Benchmarks continue to trade flat in morning deals
Sep-18-2024

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals amid weak trends in Asian markets. Traders remained cautious as India’s exports registered a steepest decline in 13-month falling 9.3 per cent in August to $34.71 billion due to global economic uncertainties, while the trade deficit soared to a 10-month of $29.65 billion. Imports increased by 3.3 per cent to $64.36 billion, which is a record high, due to a significant jump in the inbound shipments of gold and silver.  However, traders took support with a private report that the Centre’s direct tax collection collections, net of refunds, rose about 16% on year to Rs 9.92 lakh crore till September 15, 2024 in the current financial year. The direct tax receipts till September 15 were 45% of the FY25 target of Rs 22.07 lakh crore, broadly in line with annual trends. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red as caution prevailed ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later in the day, where the U.S. central bank is expected to initiate a rate cut cycle.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83102.43, up by 22.77 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 82949.42 and 83155.69. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.23%, while Small cap index was up by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.45%, Auto up by 0.33%, Capital Goods up by 0.25%, PSU up by 0.18% and Utilities up by 0.18%, while IT down by 2.57%, TECK down by 1.99%, Healthcare down by 0.79%, Telecom down by 0.18% and Consumer Durables down by 0.17% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.39%, HDFC Bank up by 1.20%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.17%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.93% and Nestle up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.12%, Infosys down by 2.70%, TCS down by 2.66%, HCL Technologies down by 2.39% and Sun Pharma down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal has said that India and the UK are expected to hold the next round of talks for a proposed free trade agreement in October to resolve the pending issues and close the negotiations. He said the officials of the UK are briefing their new ministers about the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). The two sides have already taken stock of the progress of talks at secretary and minister levels.

He stated ‘The briefings are going on in the UK...they are briefing their new ministers and based on that, the negotiations will start. We are hoping that in October, the negotiations should resume.’ He also said India is progressing on all FTAs, but there are certain things which are not in control of anyone.

The India-UK talks for the proposed FTA began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles. Due to the elections in India and Britain, both the countries lost that period. There are pending issues in both the goods and services sectors.

The Indian industry is demanding greater access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT and healthcare in the UK market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duty. On the other hand, the UK is seeking a significant cut in import duties on goods such as scotch whiskey, electric vehicles, lamb meat, chocolates and certain confectionary items.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25421.75, up by 3.20 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 25380.80 and 25443.10. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.40%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.66%, Shriram Finance up by 1.45%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.26% and HDFC Bank up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.14%, LTIMindtree down by 3.12%, Wipro down by 2.90%, Infosys down by 2.73% and TCS down by 2.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Shanghai Composite weakened 1.24 points or 0.05% to 2,702.85, Straits Times fell 2.18 points or 0.06% to 3,591.24, Nikkei 225 slipped 48.9 points or 0.14% to 36,154.32 and Taiwan Weighted lost 144.96 points or 0.66% to 21,705.12.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 8.54 points or 0.11% to 7,840.32.
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