Mr. Vishal Wagh, Research Head, BONANZA PORTFOLIO LTD
Indian indices opened on a negative note with the Nifty below 17200 on the back of weak global cues. At the time of closing, Sensex was down by 953.70 points or 1.64% at 57,145.22 and Nifty was down 311 points or 1.79% at 17,016.30.
During the day, India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $5.2 billion to $545.65 billion in the week ended September 16, logging a seventh consecutive weekly decline. The reserves are at their lowest level since October 2, 2020. The more than $5 billion drop in reserves last week was largely due to a $4.7 billion drop in foreign currency assets to $484.90. The banking system's credit growth at the end of the June quarter accelerated to 14% as compared to the year-ago period. The numbers based on data reported by 89 scheduled commercial banks excluding the performance of the regional rural banks are much higher than the 10.7% growth in the preceding March quarter, and 5.8% in the June 2021 quarter. After infusing more than Rs 51,000 cr. Last month, foreign investors slowed down the pace of equity buying in India. So far in September they have invested a little over Rs 8,600 cr., on sharp depreciation in the rupee.
The rupee slumped to a fresh record low of 81.55 to the US dollar, tracking losses in domestic as well as global equity markets. S&P Global Ratings projected India's economic growth at 7.3% in the current fiscal with downside risks. Japan's factory activity growth hit a 20-month low in September, as firms struggled with a global slowdown and pressure from high energy and raw material prices that were exacerbated by a weak yen. Shares in the Asia-Pacific fell sharply as negative sentiment continues to weigh in on markets. On the sectoral front, except for IT all other sectoral indices ended in the red.
Nifty 50 top gainers are HCL Tech, Infy, Asian Paints, Divis Lab & TCS while Adani ports, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Maruti & Eicher Motors were among the top losers.