Markets trade under pressure in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended their losing trend with gap-down opening on Monday following weakness in global markets. Domestic indices are trading lower with cut of around 0.80% each in early deals due to selling in all the sector indices led by Metal, Basic Materials and Consumer Durables counters. Continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) weighted on domestic markets. As per provisional data available on the NSE, FIIs net sold shares worth Rs 3,148.58 crore. Some cautiousness came in as former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the Indian economy has some bright spots and a number of very dark stains and the government should target its spending carefully so that there are no huge deficits. Rajan also said the government needs to do more to prevent a K-shaped recovery of the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Though, downside remained capped as DGFT official Amiya Chandra said India has set up a target of $500 billion exports for the 2022-23 fiscal, contending that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the country to reimagine world trade.

Most of the Asian markets traded lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid rising concerns about inflationary pressures and prospect of interest rate hikes as traders await the US Fed's latest policy decision on Wednesday. Meanwhile, worries about the fast spreading coronavirus Omicron variant's impact on global economic growth continues to impact market sentiment. Back home, aviation industry stocks were in focus as Icra stated that hit by the third wave of the pandemic that led to massive cancellations of domestic flights and extension of the ban on scheduled international flights till the end of the next month, the airports are set to see a 10-percentage-point fall in their revenue recovery this fiscal to 52 per cent of the pre-pandemic level. In scrip specific development, Yes Bank rose on reporting 76.8% YoY rise in Q3FY22 net profit at Rs 266.43 crore when compared with Rs 150.71 crore in Q3FY21.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58572.58, down by 464.60 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 58383.70 and 59023.97. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.62%, while Small cap index was down by 2.28%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.33%, Basic Materials down by 2.15%, Consumer Durables down by 2.09%, IT down by 2.04%, Consumer discretionary down by 1.88%, while there was no gainer on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.11%, Sun Pharma up by 0.56%, Power Grid up by 0.54%, NTPC up by 0.48% and ICICI Bank up by 0.43%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.05%, Wipro down by 2.87%, Infosys down by 2.47%, Titan Company down by 2.22% and Bajaj Finserv down by 2.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade Amiya Chandra said India has set up a target of $500 billion exports for the 2022-23 fiscal, contending that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught the country to reimagine world trade. In December 2021, exports stood at $37.8 billion, the highest-ever for any month. He added that ‘we are bang on target to touch $400 billion for the current fiscal. So far in the first nine months, the country's exports were to the tune of $301.38 billion’.

He highlighted that India is targeting $1 trillion exports by 2027. He said the apprehension that COVID-19 would lead to a sharp decline in foreign trade has turned out to be negative. However, the pandemic has taught us to reimagine world trade. He said the fulcrum of international trade has shifted from Europe and the United States to South East Asia.

Chandra also said that the world is moving away from multilateral trade agreements to bilateral ones, and India is presently in the process of entering into six FTAs. He said going ahead, artificial intelligence and other forms of technology will become important in matters relating to trade. He noted that a separate portal for MSMEs will be launched soon.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17470.35, down by 146.80 points or 0.83% after trading in a range of 17403.45 and 17599.40. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 2.35%, Cipla up by 2.13%, Indusind Bank up by 1.16%, Sun Pharma up by 1.11% and ICICI Bank up by 0.44%. On the flip side, Divi's Lab down by 5.42%, JSW Steel down by 3.60%, Hindalco down by 3.14%, Wipro down by 2.87% and Tech Mahindra down by 2.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 fell 23.05 points or 0.08% to 27,499.21, Straits Times lost 8.33 points or 0.25% to 3,286.53, Hang Seng slipped 230.70 points or 0.92% to 24,734.85, KOSPI plunged 38.96 points or 1.37% to 2,795.33 and Jakarta Composite declined 62.26 points or 0.93% to 6,664.11. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted rose 12.97 points or 0.07% to 17,912.27 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.06 points or 0.20% to 3,529.63.