Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended with losses of over 1% on Tuesday. After a cautious start of the day, markets remained volatile in the first half of the trading session, as the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed that India's retail inflation in February rate rose to an eight-month high of 6.07 percent from 6.01 percent in the previous month, remaining above the upper limit of the central bank’s comfort level of 6 per cent for the second consecutive month.

Traders remained concerned as SBI forecast more pain for the rupee if the ongoing Ukraine war lingers, plumbing to a new low of 77.5 to a dollar by June and marginally improving to 77 by end-December. It also said the current account deficit (CAD) will be at 3.5 per cent if crude oil trades at $130 a barrel, pulling down growth to 7.1 per cent. Besides, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue selling in India as they have net sold shares worth Rs 176.52 crore on March 14, the lowest offloading in a single day in the last one month.

In the second half of the trading session, key indices added more losses to end the trading session on a lower note, impacted with increasing COVID-19 cases in China hurt the confidence of investors already nervous about the Russia-Ukraine war. Some worries also came as 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, European markets were trading lower as new data revealed that UK workers have suffered their biggest pay squeeze in eight years. Asian markets ended mostly lower, after export prices in South Korea were up 20.3 percent on year in February, the Bank of Korea said - 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.

The BSE Sensex ended at 55776.85, down by 709.17 points or 1.26% after trading in a range of 55418.95 and 56720.60. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.68%, while Small cap index down by 0.88%. (Provisional)

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Auto up by 0.56%, while Metal down by 4.34%, Oil & Gas down by 2.58%, Energy down by 2.41%, IT down by 2.32% and TECK down by 2.07% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.40%, Nestle up by 0.82%, Asian Paints up by 0.81% and Titan Co up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 4.89%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 3.11%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.92%, Infosys down by 2.73% and Reliance Industries down by 2.28% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to create a level playing field, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed microfinance lenders to fix interest rates on loans with a rider that those should not be usurious for the borrowers. These directions shall be effective from April 01, 2022.

As per the RBI, each regulated entity (RE) should put in place a board-approved policy regarding pricing of microfinance loans. Interest rates and other charges/ fees on microfinance loans should not be usurious. These shall be subjected to supervisory scrutiny by the Reserve Bank.

The Reserve Bank of India further noted that each RE shall disclose pricing related information to a prospective borrower in a standardised simplified factsheet. Any fees to be charged to the microfinance borrower by the RE and/ or its partner/ agent shall be explicitly disclosed in the factsheet. The borrower shall not be charged any amount which is not explicitly mentioned in the factsheet.

Besides, the factsheet shall also be provided for other loans (i.e., collateralized loans) extended to borrowers from low-income households. There shall be no pre-payment penalty on microfinance loans. Penalty, if any, for delayed payment shall be applied on the overdue amount and not on the entire loan amount.

The CNX Nifty ended at 16663.00, down by 208.30 points or 1.23% after trading in a range of 16555.00 and 16927.75. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 3.65%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.42%, Shree Cement up by 1.96%, Cipla up by 1.85% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.41%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 5.26%, Tata Steel down by 4.88%, ONGC down by 4.69%, Coal India down by 4.13% and JSW Steel down by 3.56% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 98.25 points or 1.37% to 7,095.22, France’s CAC decreased 109.06 points or 1.71% to 6,260.88 and Germany’s DAX was down by 245.30 points or 1.76% to 13,683.81.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as investors assessed the impacts of the latest Covid-19 resurgence in China as well as a looming conflict between Beijing and Washington over the former's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, anxiety over the war in Ukraine and the outlook for higher interest rates also kept investors on edge ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting. China's Shanghai Composite index fell on concerns about surging Covid-19 cases and the country's ties with Russia. Investors ignored data showing that China's retail sales and industrial production grew more than expected in January to February period. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, retail sales advanced 6.7 percent on a yearly basis, bigger than the street forecast of 3.0 percent. Nonetheless, the pace of growth slowed from 12.5 percent expansion seen in December.