Equity benchmarks continue to show sluggish trend

Indian equity benchmarks continued to show a sluggish trend in morning session, with losses of around two percent, amid nervousness among investors globally tracking news flow on the Russia-Ukraine war. Traders were cautious with a private report that India's trade and current account deficits are likely to widen, putting pressure on the rupee, as global oil prices surge and the domestic economy reopens from a third wave of the pandemic. Traders also took a note of private report stated that the value of foreign portfolio investors' (FPI) holdings in domestic equities reached $654 billion in three months ended December 2021, a drop of nearly 2 per cent from the preceding quarter. On the sectoral front, stocks related to aviation industry remained in watch as domestic rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the Indian aviation industry is expected to report a net loss of Rs 25,000-26,000 crore this fiscal (FY22). It said elevated aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, (which were 68 per cent higher year-on-year basis in 11 months of the ongoing fiscal FY2022) and continued fare caps continue to pose a major challenge for the profitability of the airlines. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders booked profits after the recent gains and amid the continued escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54081.69, down by 1020.99 points or 1.85% after trading in a range of 54042.10 and 54653.59. 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 1.98%, while Small cap index was down by 1.53%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 3.44%, Consumer discretionary down by 3.10%, Realty down by 2.68%, Consumer Durables down by 2.33% and Bankex down by 1.94%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 0.84%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.57%, Tata Steel up by 0.20% and NTPC up by 0.08%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 6.46%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.94%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.90%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 3.75% and Bajaj Finance down by 3.10% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has asked the industry to look at ways to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and set up 10 R&D labs or innovation centres to become a global leader in technology.

Currently, manufacturing accounts for about 15 per cent of the country's GDP. Goyal also said the industry should make all-out efforts to increase the share of exports to about 25 per cent of the GDP. Besides, he stated that Indian companies should support goods manufactured locally.

Besides, citing the bold reforms undertaken by the government in recent years, He said India’s Aatmanirbhar (self-reliance) initiative has inspired other nations to adopt its policies. He stated the world wants to emulate the India story. He added ‘Indian companies should support goods manufactured in our country. The National Single Window System needs to grow significantly.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16183.10, down by 314.95 points or 1.91% after trading in a range of 16180.40 and 16364.85. There were 4 stocks advancing against 46 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 2.28%, ITC up by 0.84%, Tata Steel up by 0.23% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.20%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 6.82%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.85%, Hero MotoCorp down by 4.79%, Eicher Motors down by 4.27% and Hindustan Unilever down by 4.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 599.89 points or 2.67% to 21,867.45, Nikkei 225 slipped 591.49 points or 2.23% to 25,985.78, Taiwan Weighted dropped 189.89 points or 1.06% to 17,744.51, KOSPI fell 32.33 points or 1.18% to 2,714.75, Shanghai Composite declined 22.81 points or 0.66% to 3,458.30 and Straits Times trembled 16.61 points or 0.51% to 3,237.04.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 37.04 points or 0.54% to 6,905.44.