Benchmarks continue to trade marginally in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in red in morning deals, tracking losses in Consumer Durables and Banking stocks. Traders remained cautious with private report stated that domestic banks' share in the overall commercial credit has plunged to a low of 34 per cent in FY2021 from 56 per cent in FY2011 partly due to the pandemic and more because companies are moving away from banks for funds. However, losses remain capped as some support came with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal indicated that India’s merchandise exports rose by 37 per cent to $400.8 billion in 2021-22 until March 21, 2022 as against $292 billion in 2020-21, on healthy performance by sectors such as petroleum products, engineering, gems and jewellery, and chemicals. Sectorally, stocks related to cement industry remained in watch as ICRA said the cement industry is expected to record an 18-20 per cent volume-based growth and even surpass pre-COVID levels by 6 per cent in the current fiscal. However, it said high input costs on account of inflationary pressure are resulting in a decline in operating margins by 440-480 basis points to around 19.8-20.2 per cent in FY2022. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green even as a surge in global crude oil prices and prospects of the US Fed raising interest rate by 50 basis points in May policy meet. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57608.89, down by 75.93 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 57138.51 and 57742.07. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.18%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.98%, Basic Materials up by 0.89%, Oil & Gas up by 0.74%, Energy up by 0.69% and TECK up by 0.68%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.50%, Bankex down by 0.95%, Auto down by 0.10%, Power down by 0.09% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.08% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.04%, Tata Steel up by 1.77%, NTPC up by 0.97%, ITC up by 0.81% and TCS up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.77%, Titan Company down by 2.20%, ICICI Bank down by 1.37%, HDFC Bank down by 1.20% and Asian Paints down by 0.77% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said the airline sector is on a revival mode with 3.82 lakh passengers travelling daily by airlines in the last seven days and hoped that the total passenger traffic would rise to 40 crore by 2023-24. The number of air passengers was 14.50 crore in 2018-19. The traffic fell to 8.38 crore in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further, he said Rs 1 lakh crore of investments would be made in green and brownfield airports in the country in the next 2-3 years by both AAI and the private sector. He also defended the government's move to lease out airports to private entities saying the profitability of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will increase due to this.

He stated the government has brought about a paradigm shift, a structural change in the sector in the last two years and will focus on inclusion, access and affordability to increase demand. The democratisation of Civil Aviation has taken place in the last 7 years. Earlier, it was limited to only a few people,' he said, adding earlier only big cities had airports and 66 new airports were added during the Modi government's term. The total number of air passengers increased from 6.70 crore in 2013-14 to 14.50 crore in 2018-19. The number of planes too increased from 400 from 2013-14 to 710 by 2018-19.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17221.15, down by 24.50 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 17091.15 and 17263.40. There were 27 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 2.56%, Coal India up by 2.38%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.88%, Tata Steel up by 1.73% and JSW Steel up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.93%, Titan Company down by 2.18%, Eicher Motors down by 1.65%, ICICI Bank down by 1.50% and HDFC Bank down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 816.05 points or 3% to 28,040.16, Hang Seng increased 264.80 points or 1.21% to 22,154.08, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 171.66 points or 0.98% to 17,731.37, Straits Times advanced 14.09 points or 0.42% to 3,364.26, KOSPI rose 25.05 points or 0.92% to 2,735.05 and Shanghai Composite gained 11.17 points or 0.34% to 3,271.03.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 4.70 points or 0.07% to 6,996.12.