Local equities continue to sink in red

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in afternoon session, with Sensex and Nifty trading below their psychological levels of 50,000 and 14,850, respectively. Investors reacted negatively to India's industrial output (IIP) and retail (CPI) inflation data released on Friday. Rising COVID-19 cases also weighed on the traders mood. Sentiments were fragile as the Wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) in February rose to its 27-month high to 4.17 percent as against 2.03 percent a month ago in January. This is a 27-month high. Also, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 7,013 crore so far this month in the Indian markets on profit-booking as jitters in global bond markets spooked investors. As per depositories data, FPIs pulled out Rs 531 crore from equities and Rs 6,482 crore from the debt segment between Mar 1-13. In contrast, they had pumped in Rs 23,663 crore in Indian markets in February and Rs 14,649 crore in January, on net basis.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower as China reported a variety of data that painted a complicated picture of its recovery from the pandemic. Back on street, the initial public offering (IPO) of Laxmi Organic Industries was subscribed 61 percent by noon on March 15, the first day of bidding as investors put in bids for 1.97 crore equity shares against the offer size of 3.25 crore shares, subscription data available on exchanges showed.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49983.40, down by 808.68 points or 1.59% after trading in a range of 49899.03 and 50834.78. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.58%, while Small cap index was down by 0.89%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.42% and TECK was up by 0.16%, while Bankex down by 2.70%, Energy down by 2.09%, Industrials down by 1.58%, Capital Goods down by 1.56% and Healthcare was down by 1.56% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 1.36%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.23%, HCL Tech up by 1.02%, TCS up by 0.80% and Nestle was up by 0.34%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.92%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.42%, ICICI Bank down by 3.17%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.09% and SBI was down by 2.68% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has said that India's power is truly represented by its sustained economic growth, which is a key to its future and critical for security reasons. He said as a fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic radical reforms were ushered in across a range of sectors and asserted that India has had the sharpest recovery among the major economies.

Kant has stated that economic growth is expected to rebound about 5.5 percent after (-) 3.5 percent in 2020 which has been the worst since post-World War. He also said that pushing India towards a high growth trajectory was a key challenge. He added that the private sector needs to be brought in at the heart of India's economic growth.

He further said the economies of east and southeast Asia have transformed themselves within a generation. India's economy has witnessed a substantial transformation over 30 years since 1991 with an average annual growth of 6.5 percent. He also said investment and sustained economic growth are critical for security reasons and COVID-19 will likely reverse the trend of poverty alleviation.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14810.50, down by 220.45 points or 1.47% after trading in a range of 14776.20 and 15048.40. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid up by 1.48%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.37%, HCL Tech up by 1.10%, TCS up by 0.77% and JSW Steel was up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 3.77%, Bajaj Finance down by 3.24%, Bajaj Finserv down by 3.21%, Coal India down by 3.12% and ICICI Bank was down by 3.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; KOSPI fell 8.68 points or 0.28% to 3,045.71, Taiwan Weighted dropped 5.85 points or 0.04% to 16,249.33, Shanghai Composite declined 58.88 points or 1.71% to 3,394.20 and Jakarta Composite lost 21.67 points or 0.34% to 6,336.54 and Hang Seng was down by 126.34 points or 0.44% to 28,613.38. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 surged 49.14 points or 0.17% to 29,766.97 and Straits Times was up by 3.26 points or 0.11% to 3,098.48.