Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks witnessed heavy fall on Monday, with both Sensex and Nifty ending 2.01% and 1.73% lower. The start of the day was in red terrain, as the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for India and the whole South Asian region, citing worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation risks caused by the Ukraine crisis. The international lender lowered its growth estimate for India to 8% from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023.

Bears held a tight grip over the Dalal Street during the entire trading session, as India’s March wholesale price index-based inflation rose to 14.55 per cent as compared to 13.11 per cent in last month. According to the data released by the industry department, the high rate of inflation in March 2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals, owing to disruption in global supply chain caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Key indices finally ended the trading session in red terrain, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Domestic sentiments remained negative till the end of the session, amid a private report stating that with Covid cases witnessing a rise in the national capital, traders and business owners are apprehensive that their pandemic-hit businesses might be engulfed in another wave even before recovering from losses over the past two years.

On the global front, European markets are closed today on account of Easter. Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday, even after China's economy expanded more than expected in the first quarter. The data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that gross domestic product grew at a pace of 4.8 percent on a yearly basis in the first quarter.

The BSE Sensex ended at 57166.74, down by 1172.19 points or 2.01% after trading in a range of 56842.39 and 57420.80. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.95%, while Small cap index down by 1.01%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.97%, Utilities up by 1.91%, FMCG up by 0.65%, Auto up by 0.39% and Metal up by 0.29%, while IT down by 4.76%, TECK down by 4.60%, Telecom down by 1.77%, Bankex down by 1.68% and Realty down by 1.21% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 6.11%, Tata Steel up by 1.51%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.37%, Titan Co up by 1.21% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.27%, HDFC down by 4.81%, HDFC Bank down by 4.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.69% and Wipro down by 3.67% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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 ended at 17173.65, down by 302.00 points or 1.73% after trading in a range of 17067.85 and 17237.75. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 6.01%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.31%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.67%, Coal India up by 1.53% and Tata Steel up by 1.49%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.27%, HDFC down by 4.83%, HDFC Bank down by 4.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.67% and Apollo Hospital Ent. down by 4.00% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday as uncertainty in the Russian-Ukraine war and soaring inflation weighed on investor sentiments, and trading volumes were also thin amid Easter holidays in Hong Kong. Japanese stocks dropped ahead of earnings from big companies next week. Further, Chinese shares declined even as China’s GDP data topped forecasts. Data showed that China's GDP grew an annual 4.8% during January to March, picking up pace from a 4% increase in the fourth quarter last year. Meanwhile, China reported deaths of three people from Covid in Shanghai for the first time since it entered lockdown in late March.