Markets trade flat with positive bias in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks erased most of their initial gains and were now trading flat with positive bias in morning deals, as investors awaited more of quarterly earnings reports from India Inc. Infosys is scheduled to report its financial results for the March quarter later in the day. Traders remained cautious with data showing that India's retail inflation jumped to a 17-month high of 6.95 percent in March from 6.07 percent in February. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print for March is well above the consensus estimate. This is the third consecutive month in which inflation has come in above the 6 percent upper bound of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) mandate, averaging 6.3 percent in January-March. Traders took a note of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that there is a need to increase the growth rate and per capita income of India's aspirational districts. Meanwhile, the government completed transactions worth Rs 96,000 crore under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in 2021-22, surpassing the ambitious programme's first-year target of Rs 88,000 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green, boosted by U.S. inflation figures that fared better than markets’ worst expectations - and caused U.S. yields to pause their march higher - though Chinese shares remained pressured by COVID-19. Back home, stocks related to textiles industry remained in watch as Union Minister Piyush Goyal pitched for taking the textiles exports of the country to $100 billion by 2030 as the sector is recording a healthy growth. He noted that the textiles exports last fiscal year stood at $43 billion as against $33 billion in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58627.08, up by 50.71 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 58594.40 and 59003.82. 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 0.20%, while Small cap index was up by 0.52%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.12%, Power up by 1.06%, Utilities up by 1.02%, Energy up by 0.95% and Oil & Gas up by 0.93%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.10% and IT down by 0.09% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.40%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.07%, ITC up by 0.98%, NTPC up by 0.88% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.83%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.67%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.34%, HDFC Bank down by 0.75%, TCS down by 0.59% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has stated that the economic situation is likely to improve in the current financial year. Nageswaran expressed hope that the private sector is expected to accelerate capital expenditure from the second half of the current fiscal (H2FY23). The investment from private sector has been muted for past many years despite several measures, including corporate tax cut, taken by the government to reinvigorate it.

He mentioned ‘Bank credit is beginning to pick up especially in MSME sector. Therefore, I think probably by the end of the second quarter or in the second half of the year, private sector picking up the baton of capital expenditure... sooner rather than later Indian private sector will pick up the capital expenditure baton and run with it.’ Further, he said an RBI survey has shown a jump in capacity utilisation by the industry from 68 per cent to 74 per cent. He added the top four firms in several sectors are already operating over 80 per cent capacity.

Besides, he said ‘The robust state of balance sheet within private sector would enable the Indian economy to weather the current twin storm -- geopolitical and Fed Reserve tightening. As we head toward the second half of 2022-23, blue sky will reappear and we can look ahead to a decade of India repeating in a more sustainable form, the kind of high growth we experienced between 2003-2012.’ Moreover, if the oil prices persist beyond USD 100 per barrel for a longer period, he said, probably GDP numbers may have to be revived downward.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17555.40, up by 25.10 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 17547.35 and 17663.65. There were 32 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were UPL up by 3.02%, ONGC up by 2.99%, JSW Steel up by 1.60%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.51% and Coal India up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.55%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.21%, HDFC Bank down by 0.77%, Maruti Suzuki down by 0.69% and Divi's Lab down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 429.45 points or 1.63% to 26,764.43, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 289.08 points or 1.7% to 17,279.99, KOSPI rose 40.99 points or 1.54% to 2,707.75, Hang Seng increased 33.85 points or 0.16% to 21,352.98, Jakarta Composite soared 23.02 points or 0.32% to 7,237.80 and Straits Times advanced 21.46 points or 0.64% to 3,351.71.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite declined 14.19 points or 0.44% to 3,199.14.