Local equities extend losses in morning trade

Local equity benchmarks extended their losses in morning session, with Sensex and Nifty falling over 240 and 60 points, respectively, as global sentiment remained subdued amid a sharp rally in oil prices again. Traders remained concerned with rating agency Fitch in its Global economic Outlook-March 2022 has slashed India's growth forecast for the next fiscal to 8.5 per cent from 10.3 per cent.  The agency slashed India's growth forecast on account of sharply higher energy prices. Traders overlooked Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that with the country's foreign exchange reserves at $677 billion, it is comfortably placed to deal with any effect of spillover or any challenge with regard to financing current account deficit (CAD). He noted that over the last three years, the country's foreign exchange reserves have surged by $270 billion. Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India buying more volumes of crude oil from Russia is still less than 1 per cent of the total oil imports while the volumes from the US will rise significantly. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green as investors eyed on oil price movements, climbing U.S. Treasury yields, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Covid-19 situation in China.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57049.04, down by 243.45 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 56963.11 and 57340.42. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.98%, while Small cap index was down by 0.38%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.51%, Oil & Gas up by 1.42%, Metal up by 0.88%, IT up by 0.32% and TECK up by 0.26%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.97%, Realty down by 1.91%, FMCG down by 1.85%, Bankex down by 1.32% and Consumer Discretionary down by 1.21% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 1.99%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.02%, Tata Steel up by 0.92%, Tech Mahindra up by 0.81% and TCS up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.84%, Nestle down by 2.83%, Axis Bank down by 2.13%, SBI down by 2.10% and Asian Paints down by 2.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Fitch in its Global economic Outlook-March 2022 has slashed India's growth forecast for the next fiscal to 8.5 per cent from 10.3 per cent.  The agency slashed India's growth forecast on account of sharply higher energy prices.

It mentioned that the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery is being hit by a potentially huge global supply shock that will reduce growth and push up inflation. The war in Ukraine and economic sanctions on Russia have put global energy supplies at risk. Sanctions seem unlikely to be rescinded any time soon.
Russia supplies around 10 per cent of the world's energy, including 17 per cent of its natural gas and 12 per cent of oil.  It added ‘The jump in oil and gas prices will add to industry costs and reduce consumers' real incomes...Higher energy prices are a given’. 

Further, it stated with the Omicron wave subsiding quickly, containment measures have been scaled back, setting the stage for a pick-up in GDP growth momentum in the June quarter this year. It has revised upwards the GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal by 0.6 percentage points to 8.7 per cent.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17056.45, down by 61.15 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 17022.60 and 17143.15. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.36%, Reliance Industries up by 1.95%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 1.57%, BPCL up by 1.53% and Coal India up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.81%, Nestle down by 3.05%, Britannia Industries down by 2.60%, Asian Paints down by 2.09% and Grasim Industries down by 2.07% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 381.54 points or 1.42% to 27,208.97, Hang Seng increased 239.99 points or 1.13% to 21,461.33, Jakarta Composite soared 24.91 points or 0.36% to 6,980.09, KOSPI rose 15.92 points or 0.59% to 2,701.97 and Shanghai Composite gained 4.41 points or 0.14% to 3,258.10.

On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 5.39 points or 0.16% to 3,350.12 and Taiwan Weighted dropped 42.10 points or 0.24% to 17,518.26.