Markets continued to trade under selling pressure in late afternoon session amid reports that FPIs have turned net sellers and pulled out of over Rs 14,767 crore from Indian equities in September, primarily due to dollar appreciation, steady rise in the US bond yields, and a spike in crude oil prices. Traders overlooked Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that the country’s economy is poised to grow at an average of 6.5 per cent annually between 2023 and 2030. He said the global economy is going to witness a period of uncertainty, and India has to plug into the global supply chain and make itself attractive for the China-plus one strategy. Traders also paid no heed towards data showing that output of eight core industries rose to a 14-month high of 12.1 percent in August 2023 as against 4.2 percent a year ago, mainly due to expansion in production of coal, crude oil, and natural gas. Core sector growth in July 2023 was 8.4 percent. Meanwhile, the data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) showed the Centre's fiscal deficit in the first five months of 2023-24 touched 36 per cent of the full-year target. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit -- the gap between expenditure and revenue -- was Rs 6.42 lakh crore as of August-end.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red as inflation and interest-rate worries persisted. Asian markets settled mostly down on Tuesday, after comments from some Federal Reserve officials suggested that the U.S. central bank may have to raise its key interest rate higher than previously expected in the current battle against inflation.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 316.31 points or 0.48% to 65,512.10 and the CNX Nifty was down by 109.55 points or 0.56% to 19,528.75.     

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 65,813.50 and 65,344.59, respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.01%, Consumer Durables up by 0.81%, Industrials up by 0.63% and Realty up by 0.43%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.30%, Auto down by 1.21%, Energy down by 1.15%, Power down by 0.82% and Metal down by 0.78% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.04%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.68%, Titan Company up by 1.50%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.30% and SBI up by 0.71%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.46%, NTPC down by 1.83%, Tata Motors down by 1.59%, Sun Pharma down by 1.48% and ICICI Bank down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over the India’s economic condition, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has said that the country’s economy is poised to grow at an average of 6.5 per cent annually between 2023 and 2030. He said the global economy is going to witness a period of uncertainty, and India has to plug into the global supply chain and make itself attractive for the China-plus one strategy. The economy had 9.1 per cent growth in FY22 and 7.2 per cent in FY23. He asserted that India has made progress in the last eight years as it has now become the fifth largest economy from the 10th rank globally in 2014, and within the end of this decade, it will become the third largest economy in the world.

He said ‘Why I am talking about 6.5 per cent and not 7.5-8 per cent? It is because we are not experiencing the kind of global growth that we experienced between 2003 and 2008’. He noted global economy is going to go through a period of uncertainty. Geo-political fragmentation, geo-economic inefficiencies, and reversal of globalisation, and all these factors are currently underway. He said ‘Whereas between 2003 and 2008, globalisation was in its heyday. Interest rates were low or were being lowered globally… now interest rates either are rising or going to remain at a high level. We are realistic about our growth prospect, which is still going to be one of the world’s highest growth rates at 6.5 per cent in real terms and 11 per cent in nominal terms’.

He also emphasised the importance of increasing the share of manufacturing in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the country’s contribution to global manufacturing. Another important contributor to improving the economic growth rate is the country’s willingness and ability to take care of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). He said the private sector must think in terms of long run and large scale and invest in R&D to improve the country’s manufacturing share to GDP, and added that manufacturing employs low and semi-skilled workers. He stressed the role of the state governments in easing land use conversion laws and facilitating land acquisitions. According to him, farming is still going to be an important activity for a large country with a huge population like India, tech companies can contribute to it

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 19,623.20 and 19,479.65. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.00%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.67%, Titan Company up by 1.34%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.33% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 0.79%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.78%, Eicher Motors down by 2.68%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.67%, Hindalco down by 2.50% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.31% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 30.14 points or 0.43% to 7,038.02 and Germany’s DAX lost 77.07 points or 0.51% to 15,170.14, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 11.79 points or 0.16% to 7,522.51.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Tuesday, tracking mixed Wall Street shares overnight, and after strong US economic data cemented expectations that US interest rates could remain higher for longer than initially expected. Japanese shares slumped amid concerns over rising long-term US yields, while traders also remained on alert for a potential government intervention in currency markets to combat a sustained depreciation in the Japanese currency yen. Hong Kong shares declined after investors returned from a long holiday weekend. Growing concern about China’s weak property market also dampened market sentiments. Meanwhile, South Korean and Chinese markets were closed for holidays.