Bourses continue to trade lower in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to trade lower in late afternoon session, as retail inflation surged to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March. However, the broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading higher. Traders paid no heed towards country's exports in March 2022 rose 19.76 per cent to $42.22 billion as compared to the year-ago period. In March 2021, exports stood at $35.26 billion. Sector wise, real estate sector remained in focused, as Private equity (PE) investments in real estate sector fell 32 per cent to $4.3 billion in the last fiscal year mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PE investments in real estate stood at $6.3 billion in the 2020-21 financial year. On the global front, Asian markets were 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. European markets were trading mostly in green as traders weighed the start of the corporate earnings season against the risks from surging inflation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58486.22, down by 90.15 points or 0.15% after trading in a range of 58302.53 and 59003.82. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.07%, Metal up by 0.89%, Energy up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.76% and Basic Materials was up by 0.67%, while Auto down by 0.56%, Telecom down by 0.31%, Consumer discretionary down by 0.17%, Bankex down by 0.12%, Realty down by 0.08% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 1.73%, SBI up by 1.06%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.04%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.95% and NTPC up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.99%, Asian Paints down by 1.65%, HDFC down by 1.49%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.44% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.38% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid robust demand fundamentals and comfortable balance sheets which would help the cement sector to tide over input cost headwinds, credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has maintained a neutral outlook on the cement sector for FY23 and a Stable rating Outlook on its rated cement portfolio for FY23.

According to the latest report titled ‘FY23 Cement Outlook’, the surge in commodity prices and disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the Russia-Ukraine can result in some deferral in private sector capex, while the government capex is unlikely to be dented.

The rating agency Ind-Ra further noted that by scaling up the capex to GDP ratio for FY22 to 2.6% as per revised estimate from the budgeted 2.5% and budgeting the capex at 2.9% of GDP for FY23, the government has been showing its resolve to do the heavy lifting.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17517.75, down by 12.55 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 17457.40 and 17663.65. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.14%, Apollo Hospital up by 2.72%, UPL up by 2.03%, Sun Pharma up by 1.75% and JSW Steel up by 1.59%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 1.93%, Asian Paints down by 1.55%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.52%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.48% and HDFC down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green, Nikkei 225 surged 508.51 points or 1.93% to 26,843.49, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 310.74 points or 1.83% to 17,301.65, Hang Seng increased 55.24 points or 0.26% to 21,374.37, KOSPI rose 49.73 points or 1.86% to 2,716.49, Jakarta Composite soared 48.00 points or 0.67% to 7,262.78 and Straits Times was up by 18.92 points or 0.57% to 3,349.17. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite was down by 26.51 points or 0.83% to 3,186.82.

European markets were trading mostly in green, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.65 points or 0.1% to 7,584.31 and France’s CAC was up by 9.56 points or 0.15% to 6,546.97. On the flip side, Germany’s DAX was down by 56.46 points or 0.4% to 14,068.49.