Firm trade continues over Dalal Street

Firm trade continued over the Dalal Street in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading higher, on the back of positive cues from other Asian markets. Traders remained optimistic, as CRISIL Ratings said that India Inc performance based on credit ratings improved sharply in the second half of the financial year 2021-22 on the back of sustained improvement in demand, secular deleveraging by debt issuers, and proactive relief measures by the government. The CRISIL Ratings credit ratio 1 (upgrades to downgrades) increased to 5.04 times in the second half (H2) of fiscal 2022, compared with 2.96 times in the first half (H1), underscoring continuing improvement in the performance of India Inc. However, markets are off day’s highs, after the S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) declined to 54.0 in March from 54.9 in February. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in activity, while a sub-50 print is a sign of contraction.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Indonesia's consumer price inflation accelerated in March after easing in the previous month. The data from the statistics bureau showed that consumer prices rose 2.64 percent year-on-year in March, following a 2.06 percent increase in February. Core inflation was 2.37 percent in March.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60417.09, up by 1140.40 points or 1.92% after trading in a range of 59760.22 and 60845.10. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.80%, while Small cap index was up by 1.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.43%, Telecom up by 1.34%, Capital Goods up by 1.27%, Oil & Gas up by 1.25% and Industrials up by 1.09%, while Realty down by 0.17% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC up by 10.93%, HDFC Bank up by 8.80%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.84%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.42% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.73%, ITC down by 0.33%, Titan Co down by 0.26%, Axis Bank down by 0.19% and Power Grid down by 0.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile,The Commerce and Industry Ministry in its latest data has indicated that India's merchandise exports spurt to a record high of $418 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal on higher shipments of petroleum products, engineering goods, gem and jewellery and chemicals. Merchandise exports were worth $292 billion in 2020-21. India's goods trade (exports and imports) crossed $1 trillion during 2021-22 as the country's imports too have touched an all-time high of $610 billion. Outbound shipments touched an all-time monthly high of $40.38 billion in March 2022. Exports stood at $35.26 billion in March 2021.

According to the data, the top export destinations are the US, the UAE, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, Belgium and Germany. Commodities that recorded a positive growth in exports during April 2021-March 2022 over the previous fiscal include petroleum, cotton yarn/fabrics/made ups, handloom, gems and jewellery, engineering goods ($111 billion as against $76 billion), electronic engineering products ($15.58 billion as against $11 billion), leather goods, chemicals, plastic and marine products.

It further stated that efforts by exporters and industry associations, coordination among different departments and state governments have resulted in this achievement. Notwithstanding the challenges posed by successive waves of Covid, India's merchandise trade performance has shown impressive growth and exports remained above $30 billion for 12 consecutive months during April 2021 to March 2022. Agriculture exports crossed $48 billion during April 2021-March 2022. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17985.00, up by 314.55 points or 1.78% after trading in a range of 17791.40 and 18114.65. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC up by 10.92%, HDFC Bank up by 9.10%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 5.21%, Hero MotoCorp up by 2.99% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.90%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.73%, Cipla down by 0.62%, Tata Consumer Products down by 0.48%, ITC down by 0.18% and Titan Co down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng increased 293.44 points or 1.33% to 22,332.99, Nikkei 225 surged 21.06 points or 0.08% to 27,687.04, KOSPI rose 8.71 points or 0.32% to 2,748.56 and Straits Times advanced 4.26 points or 0.12% to 3,423.37. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 11.37 points or 0.16% to 7,067.39.