Benchmarks extend losses in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in morning deals, as selling pressure built up in FMCG, IT and Capital Goods counters. Sentiments remained down-beat with data released by the RBI showed that India's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) nearly halved to $3.39 billion in April on an annual basis. The OFDI stood at $6.71 billion in April 2021. On sequential basis too, the outward investment from India in April was lower compared to $3.44 billion in March 2022. Traders also took a note of ICRA Ratings’ report that in spite of a sharp 40 per cent decline in bond issuances, states have been forced to pay more for their market borrowings as the weighted average interest rate touched a record 7.69 per cent at the latest auctions of state government securities.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as investors awaited U.S. inflation data later in the day for hints on the pace of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Stocks related to hospitality industry remained in watch as hospitality industry body FHRAI has sought intervention of the parliamentary standing committee on finance for regulation of online travel and food aggregators, alleging anti-competitive practices by the tech platforms.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 54084.81, down by 280.04 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 54021.41 and 54598.55. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.06%, while Small cap index was down by 1.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.95%, Power up by 0.93%, Metal up by 0.50%, Oil & Gas up by 0.39% and Bankex up by 0.07%, while FMCG down by 1.16%, IT down by 0.96%, Capital Goods down by 0.92%, TECK down by 0.81% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.73% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.78%, ICICI Bank up by 0.75%, Power Grid Corp up by 0.68%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.65% and HDFC up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 2.80%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.25%, Infosys down by 1.68%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.40% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has appealed to states to build infrastructure and do energy planning thereby ensuring uninterrupted, quality supply of power is made available to industries at reasonable rates, enabling them to grow their businesses. She said the Centre would extend all its support to help states build the necessary infrastructure and this does not pertain to Tamil Nadu but also to others.

Referring to her budget announcement of allotting Rs 7.50 lakh crore to infrastructure sector in the country, she said it was comparatively higher to the Rs 5.50 lakh crore that was allotted last year. She stated ‘my appeal to states is that they should ensure electricity and it should be made available 24 hours, all 365 days at reasonable rates. Industries should get quality power.’

Further, she said every stakeholder should work towards ensuring uninterrupted power supply so that 'power shortage' does not occur since it poses as a major hurdle for the industry’s growth.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 16165.65, down by 74.40 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 16141.90 and 16318.75. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.27%, UPL up by 1.34%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.26%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.78% and ONGC up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.02%, Shree Cement down by 2.48%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.17%, Infosys down by 1.67% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng increased 337.49 points or 1.72% to 19,971.18, Shanghai Composite gained 49.59 points or 1.63% to 3,085.43, Jakarta Composite soared 40.81 points or 0.6% to 6,860.60 and Nikkei 225 surged 32.15 points or 0.12% to 26,199.25.

On the flip side, KOSPI fell 2.72 points or 0.1% to 2,593.84, Taiwan Weighted dropped 13.28 points or 0.08% to 16,048.42 and Straits Times trembled 18.62 points or 0.58% to 3,215.57.