Sensex, Nifty continue southward journey

Indian equity benchmarks added losses and continued their southward journey in morning session, with Sensex and Nifty falling over 728 and 215 points, respectively, amid continuous foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,117.50 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Traders remained on sidelines ahead of India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to be out later in the day. Some concern also came with Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in its latest report stating that as many as 449 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or above, were hit by cost overrun of more than Rs 5.01 lakh crore in March 2024. Out of 1,873 projects, 449 reported cost overrun and 779 projects were delayed. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed after reports suggested that the Biden administration plans to raise tariffs on some goods from China. Devastation in Gaza continued, and a survey showed U.S. short-term inflation expectations picked up in May, further weighing on sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 71936.17, down by 728.30 points or 1.00% after trading in a range of 71882.90 and 72603.18. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.72%, while Small cap index was down by 1.81%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 2.66%, PSU down by 2.54%, Oil & Gas down by 2.50%, Energy down by 2.43% and Utilities down by 2.42%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.02%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.28%, TCS up by 0.18% and Sun Pharma up by 0.09%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 9.20%, NTPC down by 2.07%, SBI down by 1.97%, Indusind Bank down by 1.96% and Power Grid Corporation down by 1.84% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in line with weak performance by the mining sector, India’s factory output growth, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed marginally to 4.9 per cent month-on-month in March 2024, as compared to 5.6 per cent in February 2024. However, it was 1.9 per cent in March 2023. For the month of March 2024, the Quick Estimates of IIP with base 2011-12 stood at 159.2. For the fiscal 2023-24, IIP growth touched 5.8 per cent against 5.2 per cent in the preceding financial year.

As per the latest data, the mining output growth decelerated to 1.2 per cent in March against a 6.8 per cent expansion in the year-ago month. The manufacturing sector’s growth accelerated to 5.2 per cent in March compared to 1.5 per cent a year ago. The power generation increased by 8.6 per cent in March against a contraction of 1.6 per cent in the same month of the last year. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of March 2024 stood at 156.1, 155.1 and 204.2 respectively. The cumulative growth rates of the three sectors, Mining at 7.5 per cent, Manufacturing at 5.5 per cent and Electricity at 7.1 per cent for the period of April-March 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous.

As per use-base classification, the output of primary goods logged 2.5 per cent growth in March this year, down from 3.3 per cent a year earlier. The capital goods segment growth fell to 6.1 per cent in March 2024 from 10 per cent in the year-ago period. The expansion in the intermediate goods segment was 5.1 per cent in the month under review, higher than the 1.8 per cent recorded in the same period a year ago. Infrastructure/construction goods reported a growth of 6.9 in March 2024 against a 7.2 per cent expansion in the year-ago period. Consumer durables output expanded 9.5 per cent. It had contracted by 8 per cent in March 2023. Consumer non-durable goods production grew by 4.9 per cent during the month compared to a contraction of 1.9 per cent in March 2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21839.80, down by 215.40 points or 0.98% after trading in a range of 21828.40 and 22067.30. There were 12 stocks advancing against 38 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 5.33%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.87%, Britannia Industries up by 1.23%, Asian Paints up by 1.19% and Adani Enterprises up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 9.19%, BPCL down by 3.97%, Hero MotoCorp down by 2.78%, Coal India down by 2.68% and ONGC down by 2.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 124.82 points or 0.33% to 38,104.29, KOSPI lost 10.90 points or 0.40% to 2,716.73, Jakarta Composite fell 5.83 points or 0.08% to 7,094.63 and Shanghai Composite was down by 2.61 points or 0.08% to 3,151.94.

On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted rose 118.01 points or 0.57% to 20,826.85, Hang Seng gained 88.46 points or 0.46% to 19,052.14 and Straits Times was up by 7.42 points or 0.22% to 3,298.12.