Indian equity benchmarks made gap-down opening on Friday tracking weakness in global peers amid a spurt in US bond yields. Markets are trading lower with cut of around half a percent each in early deals with IT index leading the losers after Infosys lowered growth forecast for FY24. Infosys narrowed its revenue growth guidance for the full year at the upper end and has now guided for revenue growth of 1-2.5 percent for the full year. This comes after it sharply slashed the guidance last quarter to 1-3.5 percent from 4-7 percent. Persistent foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 1,862.57 crore on October 12, 2023. Traders largely overlooked positive macro-economic data. India's industrial output grew by 10.3 percent in August. Also, India's headline retail inflation rate fell to 5.02 percent in September, thanks to a huge drop in vegetable prices. 

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading lower, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders look to book some profits to take advantage of the recent strength in the markets. Traders also reacted to data showing a slightly bigger than expected increase in U.S. consumer prices that raised concerns about interest rates. Back home, in stock specific movement, Panacea Biotech slipped on receiving FDA Form 483 with 9 observations.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 66069.14, down by 339.25 points or 0.51% after trading in a range of 65895.41 and 66176.11. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.17%, Telecom up by 0.81%, Oil & Gas up by 0.34%, Energy up by 0.22% and FMCG up by 0.14%, while Bankex down by 0.88%, IT down by 0.79%, TECK down by 0.62%, Basic Materials down by 0.47% and PSU down by 0.25% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.28%, Nestle up by 0.68%, Indusind Bank up by 0.55%, TCS up by 0.42% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.86%, Axis Bank down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.50%, Wipro down by 1.24% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.09% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Commerce and Industry Ministry said that Union Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the industrialists of the country to accelerate production activity and contribute to making India a global hub for manufacturing. The Minister emphasized the Government's steadfast commitment to providing consistent policies while acknowledging the pivotal role and the support from industry leaders.

Ministry stated Goyal highlighted various reforms and schemes undertaken by the government to support the manufacturing ecosystem and welcomed the suggestions to catalyse the process for achieving economies of scale. He also commended the attendees, recognizing their spirited engagement and unwavering dedication to propelling India's manufacturing sector to scale greater heights and become globally competitive.

It further said that the conclave served as a crucial platform for discussing the challenges and opportunities within India's manufacturing sector. The major focus was to understand and deliberate on increasing manufacturing capacities across various sectors and enhancing contribution to GDP by 2030.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 19701.45, down by 92.55 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 19635.30 and 19736.60. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.55%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.25%, Coal India up by 0.83%, ONGC up by 0.79% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.77%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 2.93%, Infosys down by 2.87%, Axis Bank down by 2.14%, SBI down by 1.54% and Wipro down by 1.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 376.66 points or 2.07% to 17,861.55, Nikkei 225 slipped 163.32 points or 0.5% to 32,331.34, Taiwan Weighted lost 72.78 points or 0.43% to 16,753.13, Straits Times fell 27.96 points or 0.87% to 3,190.73, KOSPI dropped 23.17 points or 0.93% to 2,456.65 and Shanghai Composite weakened 19.93 points or 0.65% to 3,087.97, while Jakarta Composite was up by 3.08 points or 0.04% to 6,938.23.