Sensex, Nifty remain lower in late morning session

Indian equity benchmarks remained lower in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading in red. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders were worried, as the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its latest report has downgraded India’s economic growth by over 2 per cent to 4.6 percent for 2022 from earlier forecast of 6.7 percent. A decrease has been attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with New Delhi expected to face restraints on energy access and prices, reflexes from trade sanctions, food inflation, tightening policies and financial instability.

Adding more concerns among traders, Moody’s Investors Service has said that Indian companies’ value of investments in Russia’s oil and gas fields could be impaired as import bans and international sanctions may constraint future cash flow generating capacity. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India (OIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) have invested in upstream oil and gas assets in Russia.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, even after Taiwan's unemployment rate declined slightly in February. The Directorate General of Budget Accounting & Statistics showed that the unemployment rate fell a seasonally adjusted 3.67 percent in February from 3.70 percent in January. In the same period last year, the jobless rate was 3.73 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the jobless rate rose to 3.65 percent in February from 3.61 percent a month ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57484.09, down by 111.59 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 57389.56 and 57845.37. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.22%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 0.87%, Realty up by 0.78%, Oil & Gas up by 0.56%, Energy up by 0.50% and PSU up by 0.22%, while Consumer Durables down by 1.79%, FMCG down by 0.80%, Capital Goods down by 0.36%, Healthcare down by 0.34% and Auto down by 0.33% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 0.93%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.81%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.80%, SBI up by 0.68% and Indusind Bank up by 0.39%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.27%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.69%, Power Grid down by 1.64%, Nestle down by 1.15% and ITC down by 1.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, The Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh has said that investments worth Rs 36,000 crore have been planned for the development of greenfield airports under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. He also cited ‘highly price-sensitive customers’ and high taxes on jet fuel as major challenges faced by the country's civil aviation sector.

Singh said that adequate safety measures are already in place for ensuring safe operation of aircraft at airports, including those having table-top runways, as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and DGCA's civil aviation requirements. He said major challenges faced by the aviation sector include the adverse impact of the COVID pandemic, high taxes on aviation fuel, weak financial status of some airlines and sub-optimal infrastructure.

He also mentioned highly price-sensitive customers, sub-optimal leasing, MRO and manufacturing, low presence on international routes, mega aviation hubs in India's vicinity and shortage of skilled professionals as the major challenges.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17187.10, down by 35.65 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 17160.05 and 17294.90. There were 16 stocks advancing against 33 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Auto up by 1.74%, UPL up by 1.42%, Reliance Industries up by 0.93%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.81% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.80%. On the flip side, Titan Co down by 3.42%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.79%, Power Grid down by 1.78%, Cipla down by 1.56% and Tata Consumer Products down by 1.49% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng decreased 355.70 points or 1.62% to 21,590.25, Jakarta Composite lost 60.57 points or 0.86% to 6,989.12, Taiwan Weighted dropped 57.66 points or 0.33% to 17,641.40, Shanghai Composite declined 15.22 points or 0.47% to 3,235.04. On the flip side, KOSPI rose 3.36 points or 0.12% to 2,733.02, Nikkei 225 surged 9.95 points or 0.04% to 28,120.34 and Straits Times advanced 18.21 points or 0.54% to 3,417.91.