Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended below their respective neutral lines on Wednesday. After a strong start of trading session, markets remained higher during morning deals, taking support with the government data showing that the factory output rose 1.7 per cent in February, mainly on account of rise in the mining sector and power generation. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had declined 3.2 per cent in February 2021. Mining output rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in February and electricity was up by 4.5 percent.

Adding more optimism, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran expressed hope that the private sector is expected to accelerate capital expenditure from the second half of the current fiscal and he also asserted that the economic situation is likely to improve during the year. However, key indices turned negative in afternoon deals, as consumer price-based inflation jumped to 6.95 per cent in March, mainly on account of costlier food items. The inflation in the food basket was 7.68 per cent in March, up from 5.85 per cent in the preceding month.

Finally, markets ended the trading session on a lower note, as traders got worried after the World Trade Organization (WTO) has downgraded its forecast for global GDP growth in 2022 to 2.8% from the previously expected 4.1%. Market participants paid no heed towards reports stating that 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.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in green as traders weighed the start of the corporate earnings season against the risks from surging inflation. Asian markets ended mostly in green, after China's exports grew more than expected and imports logged an unexpected fall in March. Exports grew 14.7 percent on a yearly basis in March, faster than the expected growth of 13.0 percent. Meanwhile, imports dropped 0.1 percent from the last year, confounding expectations for an increase of 8.0 percent.

The BSE Sensex ended at 58338.93, down by 237.44 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 58291.23 and 59003.82. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.21%, while Small cap index up by 0.27%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.87%, Capital Goods up by 0.80%, FMCG up by 0.69%, Energy up by 0.63% and Metal up by 0.60%, while Auto down by 0.85%, Bankex down by 0.65%, Telecom down by 0.59%, Realty down by 0.58% and Consumer Disc down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were ITC up by 1.87%, Sun Pharma up by 1.66%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%, SBI up by 0.94% and NTPC up by 0.82%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 2.01%, HDFC Bank down by 1.90%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.86%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.71% and Asian Paints down by 1.62% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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 ended at 17475.65, down by 54.65 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 17457.40 and 17663.65. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC up by 3.17%, Apollo Hospital Ent. up by 2.55%, ITC up by 1.79%, Sun Pharma up by 1.68% and UPL up by 1.61%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 1.95%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.95%, HDFC Bank down by 1.91%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.67% and Tata Motors down by 1.65% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday after core US inflation data came in lower than expected and as the world's second largest economy China lifted some of its virus restrictions in Shanghai. Meanwhile, investors will be focusing on a slew of policy decisions from the European Central Bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of Korea on Thursday. Japanese shares gained as investors shrugged off data showing Japan's core machinery orders fell for a second month in February. However, Chinese shares declined despite the release of strong exports data. Data showed that China's exports rose an annual 15.7% in March while imports came in flat amid disruption due to Covid outbreaks. Some gains were capped by signs that the Ukraine-Russia situation will not be de-escalating anytime soon. Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted last night the ongoing invasion in Ukraine was going as planned despite a major withdrawal and significant losses.