Domestic indices continue to trade flat in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade flat in morning deals, amid worries that rising inflationary pressures in the country could force RBI to initiate rate hikes at the next policy meet. Traders remained cautious as an Reserve Bank of India (RBI) article has flagged risks of disruptive spillovers from geopolitical hostilities and said India faces these challenges from a position of strength built on broadened vaccine coverage, financial sector resilience and robust exports and remittances and fiscal reprioritisation to spur capital spending on infrastructure. However, traders took some support with working paper of the World Bank stated that extreme poverty in India declined by 12.3 percentage points between 2011 and 2019, with rural areas doing better than urban centres. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva and discussed a range of issues, including impact of geopolitical situation on global growth.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green even as the World Bank cut its forecast for global expansion this year by nearly a full percentage point. Separately, the IMF warned in a chapter of its World Economic Outlook report released on Monday that debt accumulated by businesses and individuals worldwide could slow economic recoveries from the pandemic crisis. Back home, sugar industry stocks remained in focus as the commerce ministry stating that India’s sugar exports increased to $4.6 billion (about Rs 35,000 crore) in 2021-22 from $1.17 billion (about Rs 9,000 crore) in 2013-14. India exported sugar to 121 countries across the globe.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57130.12, down by 36.62 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 57027.86 and 57459.89. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.80%, while Small cap index was up by 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Energy up by 1.62%, Oil & Gas up by 1.37%, Metal up by 1.33%, PSU up by 1.18% and Utilities up by 0.94%, while TECK down by 0.39%, IT down by 0.19%, Telecom down by 0.12%, Capital Goods down by 0.10% and Realty down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Industries up by 2.18%, SBI up by 1.45%, ICICI Bank up by 1.15%, Axis Bank up by 1.06% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.03%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.67%, HDFC Bank down by 2.60%, Infosys down by 1.09%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.56% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry’s preliminary data has showed that India's exports increased by 37.01 per cent to $ 18.79 billion during April 1-14 on the back of healthy growth in sectors like petroleum, gems and jewellery. Exports during April 1-14, 2021, stood at $13.72 billion.
Further, it showed that imports during the period rose by 12.24 per cent to $25.84 billion. Imports excluding petroleum increased in the said period by 18.24 per cent against the same period of FY22.

During the previous year (FY22), India surpassed the $400-billion target for merchandise exports, ending the year with over $419 billion, growing by nearly a fifth.  Imports in FY22 too soared to $ 611.89 billion, leaving a trade gap of $192.24 billion. The department of commerce is yet to set the target for this fiscal year, but meetings with export promotion councils and the external affairs minister is also underway to finalise the target.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17175.70, up by 2.05 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 17152.60 and 17275.65. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital Enterprises up by 4.63%, Reliance Industries up by 2.23%, Eicher Motors up by 2.00%, Coal India up by 1.95% and JSW Steel up by 1.52%. On the flip side, HDFC down by 3.74%, HDFC Bank down by 2.88%, Infosys down by 1.10%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.90% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 164.05 points or 0.61% to 26,963.76, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 122.04 points or 0.72% to 17,020.91, Shanghai Composite gained 3.78 points or 0.12% to 3,199.30, Straits Times advanced 18.72 points or 0.57% to 3,321.79 and KOSPI rose 23.15 points or 0.86% to 2,716.36.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 61.71 points or 0.85% to 7,213.58 and Hang Seng decreased 406.47 points or 1.89% to 21,111.61.