Bourses trade with hefty losses in late afternoon session

Local equity markets traded with hefty losses in late afternoon session on account of selling in frontline counters. Losses in financial and IT stocks pulled down the markets lower. The broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading with cut of above percent each. The overall breadth was negative, as 2122 stocks declining versus 1373 advancing shares on the BSE so far. Sentiments remained down-beat, after India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) surged to 14.55% in the month of March as against 13.11% in February. The annual rate of inflation is 14.55% in March 2022 as compared to 7.89% in March 2021. The high rate of inflation in March 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals, etc owing to disruption in global supply chain caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red hurt by higher oil prices on concerns over tighter global supply, while other Asian currencies traded lower against a firmer US dollar as inflationary pressures broadened.  European markets are closed today on account of Easter.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57048.69, down by 1290.24 points or 2.21% after trading in a range of 56842.39 and 57420.80. There were 8 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.47%, while Small cap index was down by 1.19%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG was up by 0.59%, while IT down by 4.74%, TECK down by 4.58%, Bankex down by 2.22%, Telecom down by 2.03% and Realty was down by 1.89% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 5.56%, Nestle up by 1.45%, Tata Steel up by 1.37%, Titan Company up by 1.10% and Hindustan Unilever up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.29%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.21%, HDFC down by 4.64%, HDFC Bank down by 4.60% and Wipro down by 3.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) surged to 14.55% in the month of March as against 13.11% in February. The annual rate of inflation is 14.55% in March 2022 as compared to 7.89% in March 2021. The high rate of inflation in March 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals, etc owing to disruption in global supply chain caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, increased by 2.10% to 170.3 (provisional) in March 2022 from 166.8 (provisional) for the month of February 2022. Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 5.68% to 146.9 (provisional) in March 2022 from 139.0 (provisional) for the month of February 2022. Prices of Mineral Oils increased in March 2022 as compared to February 2022.

Besides, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 2.31% to 141.6 (provisional) in March, 2022 from 138.4 (provisional) for the month of February, 2022. Meanwhile, for the month of January, 2022 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 143.8 and 13.68% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17136.35, down by 339.30 points or 1.94% after trading in a range of 17067.85 and 17237.75. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 5.68%, SBI Life up by 2.04%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.67%, Tata Steel up by 1.48% and Nestle up by 1.19%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.37%, Tech Mahindra down by 5.27%, HDFC down by 4.74%, HDFC Bank down by 4.62% and Apollo Hospital down by 3.95% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red, Nikkei 225 slipped 293.48 points or 1.08% to 26,799.71, Taiwan Weighted dropped 105.31 points or 0.62% to 16,898.87, Straits Times trembled 24.41 points or 0.73% to 3,311.44, Shanghai Composite declined 15.72 points or 0.49% to 3,195.52 and KOSPI was down by 2.85 points or 0.11% to 2,693.21. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite was up by 39.76 points or 0.55% to 7,275.29.