Domestic indices trade flat with negative bias in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start on Tuesday amid weakness in global markets. Domestic indices are trading flat with negative bias in early deals. Selling in Metal and Consumer Durables stocks dragged the markets lower, whereas buying in Auto and Telecom counters limited the downside. Traders were concerned with a private report that Indian retail inflation likely surged to an 18-month high in April, largely driven by rising fuel and food prices and staying well above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance limit for a fourth consecutive month. There was some cautiousness as Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik said increasing inflation and unemployment are going to create a situation of crisis in the country but no leader is ready to speak on the issues.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower following the continued sell-off on Wall Street overnight, as traders remain concerned about slowing growth, soaring inflation and prospects of tighter policy moves by global central banks to combat persistent inflation. Back home, insurance industry stocks were in focus as latest data released by the Life Insurance Council showed that new business premiums (NBP) of life insurance companies jumped 84 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in April. In scrip specific development, GNFC rose as its Q4 net profit more-than-doubled to Rs 643.26 crore in the quarter ended March 2022 when compared with Rs 308.91 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54445.78, down by 24.89 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 54269.59 and 54644.06. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.12%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.02%, Telecom up by 0.59%, FMCG up by 0.55%, Capital Goods up by 0.40%, Industrials up by 0.28%, while Metal down by 1.14%, Consumer Durables down by 1.14%, Energy down by 0.59%, IT down by 0.46%, Oil & Gas down by 0.43% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 1.81%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.72%, Asian Paints up by 1.50%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.50% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.34%, Titan Company down by 1.17%, Infosys down by 0.98%, Reliance Industries down by 0.97% and Sun Pharma down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said with licence quota raj prevailing during the 70 years of Congress regime, the policy change brought in by the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created new opportunities for the private sector by allowing them to manufacture products that were normally made by public sector units (PSUs).

She said the previous regimes had centrally planned schemes with regulation of limited manufacturing opportunities and the aspirations of core industries were clipped despite their potential to boost manufacturing in the country.

She said though good things happened after opening up of the economy in 1991 during Congress period, the policy change undertaken by the Modi government provided opportunities to private sector, particularly MSMEs, and added that barring a few strategic sectors, the sector can work together with PSUs in defence, space and atomic energy sectors.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16288.80, down by 13.05 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 16243.50 and 16352.50. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 1.94%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.74%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.67%, Asian Paints up by 1.55% and Bajaj Auto up by 1.36%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 4.37%, Hindalco down by 2.05%, Tata Steel down by 1.77%, Coal India down by 1.75% and Cipla down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 234.77 points or 0.89% to 26,084.57, Straits Times fell 41.13 points or 1.26% to 3,233.94, Hang Seng declined 562.25 points or 2.81% to 19,439.71, Taiwan Weighted lost 93.70 points or 0.58% to 15,955.22, KOSPI weakened 21.38 points or 0.82% to 2,589.43 and Jakarta Composite plunged 213.61 points or 3.09% to 6,696.14, while Shanghai Composite was up by 5.08 points or 0.17% to 3,009.22.