Benchmarks continue weak trade in morning session

Indian equity benchmarks continued their weak trade in the morning session on account of selling in frontline blue chip counters, tracking weak global markets due to hawkish FOMC meeting minutes. The sentiments were under pressure with a private report stating that the yield on the 10-year government bond inched up to nearly 7 per cent ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy review scheduled for Friday on fears that the central bank may raise the inflation forecast. Traders overlooked the government data showed exports of agricultural products from India crossed the $50 billion mark for the first time during the financial year 2021-22 on the back of healthy growth in the exports of sugar, rice, wheat and other cereals. In scrip specific development, HDFC Bank and HDFC stocks were trading under presser after Moody's Investors Service in its latest report stated that the proposed merger of HDFC Bank and HDFC Ltd will moderately hurt the lender's profitability in the next 2-3 years, driven by higher funding costs to meet the regulatory liquidity norms.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in red in line with a global selloff, as markets were spooked by more aggressive noises from U.S. policymakers about the need for tighter monetary policy. Investors also awaited Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) bi-monthly policy outcome due on Friday. Back home, shares of power distribution companies are in demand amid reports of rising electricity consumption in the country. An early onset of summer coupled with rising demand from businesses with Covid-led restrictions being withdrawn across the board also raised the demand for power.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59232.38, down by 378.03 points or 0.63% after trading in a range of 59202.36 and 59402.61. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.56%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 2.58%, Utilities up by 2.47%, Healthcare up by 0.90%, Realty up by 0.81% and FMCG up by 0.71%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.68%, Metal down by 0.55%, TECK down by 0.51%, IT down by 0.39% and Bankex down by 0.24% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 2.52%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.64%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.97%, Sun Pharma up by 0.85% and Axis Bank up by 0.79%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.47%, Titan Company down by 2.08%, HDFC Bank down by 1.76%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.34% and Reliance Industries down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and Australia should look at boosting the bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030 from the current level of around $27.5 billion. He said that both the countries are already at an advanced stage of entering into an agreement for greater collaboration in the education sector. On April 2, India and Australia signed the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA) under which both the countries are providing duty-free access to a huge number of goods and relaxing norms to promote trade in services.

He said ‘I would suggest that our teams should drill down sector by sector to see how we are going to grow this relationship... Let's be more ambitious, let's look at $100 billion engagement by 2030... So, we are looking at quadrupling this relationship in eight years.’ Both the countries are also looking at things like providing dual degrees and signing mutual recognition agreements to promote services trade.

Moreover, he said that areas where both the countries can increase collaboration include education, research, startups and agri tech. he also sought investments from Australia in areas like infrastructure. He asserted ‘We have a big market and people aspire for a better quality of life. This gives a huge opportunity for India and people around the world. Besides, he added that Australia has a huge investible surplus.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17686.75, down by 120.90 points or 0.68% after trading in a range of 17686.45 and 17755.45. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 2.25%, Cipla up by 2.24%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.22%, Eicher Motors up by 1.14% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.74%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.49%, Titan Company down by 2.19%, HDFC Bank down by 1.86%, Hindalco down by 1.82% and Reliance Industries down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 434.78 points or 1.59% to 26,915.52, Hang Seng decreased 289.22 points or 1.31 % to 21,791.30, Taiwan Weighted dropped 266.96 points or 1.52% to 17,255.54, KOSPI fell 33.44 points or 1.22% to 2,701.59, Shanghai Composite declined 32.37 points or 0.99% to 3,251.06 and Straits Times trembled 18.91 points or 0.55% to 3,404.04.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite soared 17.86 points or 0.25% to 7,122.08.