Indian equity benchmarks ended in deep red on Wednesday. After a cautious start, markets traded in green terrain, taking support with the commerce ministry's preliminary data stating that India's exports grew 17.27 per cent to $14.22 billion during March 1-14 as compared to the year-ago period, showing healthy signs of revival. The key sectors which recorded a healthy growth in exports include engineering, rice, gems and jewellery. But soon, indices turned negative, as India reported 28,869 fresh Covid-19 cases on Tuesday pushing the overall tally to 11,438,464, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 159,079.
Benchmarks came back in green terrain during late morning deals, as traders got relief, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament that the Reserve Bank of India is taking measures to strengthen its regulatory and supervisory capacity, and expressed hope that these steps will ensure no regulatory mishaps take place in the future. Some support also came with reports that the retail industry's business is on the brink of full recovery as it achieved 93 per cent of the pre-COVID sales in February.
In afternoon deals, markets again traded in red terrain and witnessed sharp fall. Sentiments were pessimistic with India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report stating that the performance of unsecured assets classes, such as microfinance loans, unsecured business loans and consumer loans, is worsening with deteriorating financial conditions of borrowers. For secured asset classes, it has a stable performance outlook given the recovery in the economy in FY22. Meanwhile, SEBI has issued guidelines aimed at addressing grievances of IPO investors, particularly those using the unified payment interface (UPI) for payments.
On the global front, European markets were trading lower as most investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision, while German carmaker BMW jumped after forecasting significant profit growth in 2021. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, even after the value of non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in Singapore climbed a seasonally adjusted 8.2 percent on month in February. The Enterprise Singapore said that beat forecasts for a decline of 1.0 percent following the downwardly revised 6.9 percent increase in January (originally 7.0 percent). On a yearly basis, exports gained 4.2 percent - shy of expectations for 6.6 percent following the downwardly revised 12.7 percent increase in the previous month (originally 12.8 percent).
The BSE Sensex ended at 49801.62, down by 562.34 points or 1.12% after trading in a range of 49718.65 and 50561.12. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)
The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.28%, while Small cap index was down by 2.12%. (Provisional)
The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas down by 3.22%, PSU down by 3.11%, Power down by 2.87%, Realty down by 2.79% and Energy down by 2.45%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. (Provisional)
The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.20%, Infosys up by 0.21%, TCS up by 0.13% and HDFC up by 0.12%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.95%, NTPC down by 2.92%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 2.80%, SBI down by 2.75% and Indusind Bank down by 2.54% were the top losers. (Provisional)
Meanwhile, highlighting efforts being taken to prevent bank frauds, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)is taking measures to strengthen its regulatory and supervisory capacity, and expressed hope that these steps will ensure no regulatory mishaps take place in the future.
Sitharaman said ''We have been engaging with the RBI to ensure that the regulatory functions and supervisory function of the RBI are strengthened. I am assured by the RBI Governor that internally an institutional mechanism is being further strengthened.''
Besides, the finance minister said the capacity of the RBI's regulatory and supervisory staff is being strengthened with specially tailored courses. Responding to another query addressing gaps in bank guarantees, the minister said this aspect will be looked into as the RBI is engaging with the ministry on this matter also.
The CNX Nifty ended at 14721.30, down by 189.15 points or 1.27% after trading in a range of 14696.05 and 14956.55. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)
The top gainers on Nifty were ITC up by 1.32%, Infosys up by 0.22%, HDFC up by 0.21%, TCS up by 0.09% and Divis Lab up by 0.00%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 5.00%, BPCL down by 4.80%, Tata Motors down by 4.42%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.06% and Coal India down by 4.02% were the top losers. (Provisional)
European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 16.29 points or 0.24% to 6,787.32, France’s CAC decreased 7.98 points or 0.13% to 6,047.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 0.10 points to 14,557.48.
Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street, as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due out later in the day. Chinese market ended marginally lower as the US sanctioned an additional 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials over Beijing's ongoing crackdown on political freedoms in the semi-autonomous city. Further, Japanese markets ended a choppy session little changed after trade data for February showed the country's exports dropped 4.5 percent year-on-year in February.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,445.55 | -1.18 | -0.03 |
Hang Seng | 29,034.12 | 6.43 | 0.02 |
Jakarta Composite | 6,277.23 | -32.47 | -0.51 |
KLSE Composite | 1,624.97 | 1.01 | 0.06 |
Nikkei 225 | 29,914.33 | -6.76 | -0.02 |
Straits Times | 3,109.65 | 4.14 | 0.13 |
KOSPI Composite | 3,047.50 | -19.67 | -0.64 |
Taiwan Weighted | 16,215.82 | -97.34 | -0.60 |
