Weak trade persists in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in morning session on account of selling in frontline blue-chip counters. The sentiments remained under pressure with disappointing macro-economic data. With decline in output of capital goods, manufacturing and mining sectors, industrial production re-entered the negative territory in January. The Index of Industrial Production contracted by 1.6 percent in January 2021 over last year, compared to a rise of 1.6 percent in December. Besides, owing to higher food and fuel prices, the consumer price index (CPI) based retail inflation rose to three-month high of 5.03 per cent in February as compared to 4.06 percent in January, raising fresh concerns about the health of the economy. The street failed to draw support with Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur’s statement that there are green shoots visible in various sectors of the economy and the country is already looking at a 'V-shaped' recovery.  

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, as U.S. bond yields continued to hover near their 13-month peak amid bets that U.S. economic growth will accelerate after the passing of a massive stimulus package. Back home, on the sectoral front, power stocks remained in focus with data showing that power consumption in the country grew 16.5 percent in the first 12 days of this month at 47.67 billion units over the corresponding period a year ago, showing a revival in the economic activities. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50316.64, down by 475.44 points or 0.94% after trading in a range of 50068.83 and 50834.78. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.91%, while Small cap index down by 0.58%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.71%, TECK up by 0.54%, Power up by 0.19%, Utilities up by 0.11% and Realty up by 0.06%, while Bankex down by 1.78%, Healthcare down by 1.22%, Energy down by 1.19%, Auto down by 0.80% and PSU down by 0.73% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.06%, Power Grid up by 1.68%, TCS up by 1.25%, HCL Technologies up by 1.04% and Infosys up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.07%, Axis Bank down by 2.51%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.08%, HDFC down by 1.91% and Bajaj Auto down by 1.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur has said there are green shoots visible in various sectors of the economy and the country is already looking at a 'V-shaped' recovery.

He mentioned ‘India is already looking at 'V-shaped' recovery. Along with the green shoots in various sectors, in the month of February, FPI inflows were Rs 25,787 crore.’ After two consecutive quarters of contraction, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) entered into a positive territory with a growth of 0.4 per cent in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, according to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in February.

Thakur said the country' foreign exchange reserves, which have been steadily increasing over the last few months, had touched all time high at $590 billion in January 2021. He said the accretion to the forex reserves in the last eight month was $100 billion. He added these are signs of confidence that the global funds and investors look at India as a destination to invest and they are bullish about India's growth story.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14871.75, down by 159.20 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 14818.50 and 15048.40. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 2.26%, Power Grid up by 1.70%, TCS up by 1.08%, HCL Technologies up by 0.99% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.99%, Bajaj Finserv down by 2.93%, Axis Bank down by 2.78%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.38% and GAIL India down by 2.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 1.83 points or 0.06% to 3,052.56, Taiwan Weighted dropped 4.11 points or 0.03% to 16,251.07, Shanghai Composite declined 21.07 points or 0.61% to 3,432.01 and Jakarta Composite lost 27.96 points or 0.44% to 6,330.25.

On the flip side, Hang Seng increased 167.43 points or 0.58% to 28,907.15, Nikkei 225 surged 41.97 points or 0.14% to 29,759.80 and Straits Times advanced 9.64 points or 0.31% to 3,104.86.