Sensex, Nifty trade volatile

Indian equity benchmarks were trading volatile in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty now trading in red terrain, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Traders remained worried, as government data showed that retail inflation hit an eight-month high of 6.07 per cent in February, remaining above the RBI's comfort level for the second month in a row, while wholesale price-based inflation soared to 13.11 per cent on account of hardening of crude oil and non-food item prices. Besides, a parliamentary standing committee has rapped the tribal affairs ministry for under-utlisation of funds and asked it to make sincere efforts to improve its spending so that people get benefits of schemes.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after export prices in South Korea were up 20.3 percent on year in February, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday - slowing from 22.0 percent in January. Export prices for agricultural, forestry and marine products were up an annual 19.2 percent, the bank said, while export prices for manufacturing products rose 20.3 percent. Import prices jumped 29.4 percent on year in February, slowing from 30.5 percent in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 56430.88, down by 55.14 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 56265.27 and 56720.60. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.45%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.71%, Auto up by 1.69%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.93%, Industrials up by 0.76% and Telecom up by 0.73%, while Metal down by 2.56%, Oil & Gas down by 1.17%, IT down by 1.15%, TECK down by 0.95% and Energy down by 0.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 3.15%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.93%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.51%, ICICI Bank up by 1.28% and Titan Co up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.94%, Infosys down by 2.15%, Power Grid down by 1.50%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.19% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA Ratings in its latest report has said that the asset under management (AUM) of non-banking financial companies (retail) is expected to grow 5-7 per cent in fiscal 2022 and 8-10 per cent in fiscal 2023. It said housing finance companies (HFCs) are likely to see their AUM expanding by 8-10 per cent in the current fiscal and 9-11 per cent in the next financial year.

According to the report, within the NBFC-retail segment, personal credit, microfinance and gold loans are likely to be the primary growth drivers as other traditional asset segments-vehicle finance and business credit are still facing headwinds because of supply constraints and asset quality concerns. However, it said NBFC-wholesale AUM will continue to shrink in the current fiscal and stabilise in FY2023. It noted that while the disbursement and AUM trends have revived in Q2 FY2022 and Q3 FY2022, the trend is likely to continue in Q4 of FY2022 as impact of the third wave of the pandemic was limited.

The agency further said the disbursement growth will have to remain healthier for a sustained AUM growth. In line with the trend seen over the past two years, it said liquidity for the sector has remained adequate, with entities typically maintaining a coverage of their next three-month repayments. Also, lower AUM growth in FY2022 warranted limited incremental funding requirement as compared with previously envisaged levels. It expects the NBFC and HFC return on managed assets (RoMA) to reach near COVID-19 levels of 2.7-2.9 per cent and 1.8-2 per cent in FY2023.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16865.35, down by 5.95 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 16807.65 and 16927.75. There were 31 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 5.30%, Maruti Suzuki up by 3.16%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.99%, Tata Motors up by 2.28% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.61%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.37%, Hindalco down by 3.79%, Tata Steel down by 2.91%, JSW Steel down by 2.13% and Infosys down by 2.12% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 584.41 points or 2.99% to 18,947.25, Taiwan Weighted dropped 307.26 points or 1.78% to 16,955.78, Shanghai Composite declined 70.42 points or 2.18% to 3,153.11, Jakarta Composite lost 14.56 points or 0.21% to 6,937.64 and KOSPI fell 14.31 points or 0.54% to 2,631.34. On the flip side, Straits Times advanced 20.77 points or 0.64% to 3,252.80 and Nikkei 225 surged 46.70 points or 0.18% to 25,354.55.