Benchmarks trade with minor cuts; European mrkt opens lower

The key equity indices traded with small losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded a tad below 17,600 level after hitting the day's low of 17,484.30 in early trade. IT, consumer durables and pharma stocks were in demand while auto, realty and private bank shares were under pressure. Investors remained cautious ahead of the release of the US Fed's Beige Book, which summarises the state of the world's largest economy, due later today.

At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 69.35 points or 0.12% to 59,127.64. The Nifty 50 index lost 6.60 points or 0.04% to 17,649.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.32% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.63%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,101 shares rose and 1,264 shares fell. A total of 129 shares were unchanged.

Shree Cements (up 5.79%), Ultratech Cements (up 3.48%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 2.19%), Coal India (up 2.02%) and Britannia Industries (up 1.42%) were top Nifty gainers.

Bajaj Auto (down 2.56%), Tata Motors (down 2.38%), Indusind Bank (down 1.72%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.69%) and Bharti Airtel (down 1.63%) were major Nifty losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Paras Defence and Space Technologies gained 2.94% after the company said that it has entered into an exclusive teaming agreement with ELDIS Pardubice s.r.o., Czech Republic to provide Turnkey Anti-Drone Systems for Civilian Airports in India.

Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers jumped 4.61%. The company announced that it has commenced commercial production of one of its plant with respect to Unit V after obtaining all the necessary approvals.

Zuari Industries advanced 2.67% after the company announced that it has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Envien International, Malta (EIL), and Zuari Envien Bioenergy (ZEBPL) to build and operate a biofuel distillery. The company said that it will explore the organic and inorganic business opportunities in the biofuel space in India.

Global markets:

Shares in Europe slumped while Asian stocks traded lower on Wednesday as investors anticipate the Federal Reserve to give its summary on current economic conditions, also known as the Beige Book.

Australia's real GDP grew 0.9% in the second quarter after rising 0.7% in the previous period, official data showed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the continued growth was backed by the first full quarter of reopened borders. The data also showed the Australian economy grew 3.6% over the past year.

Meanwhile, China's exports rose 7.1% in August compared with the same period a year ago, official data showed. Imports ticked up 0.3%, less than 2.3% increase in July.

The country saw a trade surplus of $79.39 billion in August driven by weaker import numbers, after it saw a record $101.26 billion in trade surplus in July.

Following this, a foreign brokerage has reportedly cut its forecast for China's full-year GDP to 2.7%, another downgrade from its previous 2.8% estimate set in August.

As per reports, the new outlook is based on the research firm's analysis that found 12% of China's GDP is affected by Covid controls on a weighted basis, up from 5.3% last week.

Several cities including the tech hub of Shenzhen have reportedly tightened Covid controls in the last few weeks after reporting new local infections. Chengdu has also ordered people to stay home while authorities conduct mass virus testing, the reports added.

Wall Street's main indices closed lower on Tuesday, the first session after the US Labor Day holiday and summer vacations, as traders assessed fresh economic data in volatile trading.

A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed the U.S. services industry picked up in August for the second straight month amid stronger order growth and employment, while supply bottlenecks and price pressures eased.

The Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing PMI edged up to a reading of 56.9 last month from 56.7 in July, the second consecutive monthly increase after three months of declines.

The focus will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Thursday as well U.S. consumer price data next week for clues on the path of monetary policy.

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